Fireworks and sweets as Pak waits for Sharif

LAHORE: Supporters of Pakistani ex-premier Nawaz Sharif partied with fireworks and sweets overnight as they prepared a massive welcome for his homecoming from exile Sunday.   

Late into the night people thronged the streets of the old part of Lahore, the city in eastern Pakistan that is Sharif's political bastion and where he was expected to land mid-afternoon.   

His return to the emergency-ruled country follows what senior government officials called an "understanding," allowing him to leave Saudi Arabia where he has lived since late 2000.   

But security was stepped up, with extra police deployed at Lahore airport and barbed wire barricades and checkposts restricting access on key roads.   

Javed Hashmi, a senior Sharif party leader, said police had picked up and arrested some activists but predicted a huge welcome anyway.   

A police official admitted some arrests but said they were of "potential trouble-makers" to prevent any "untoward situation" arising.   

"We have told the party that access to the airport will be restricted to named people. We need to protect people as well," Lahore police chief Malik Iqbal said.   

Youth performed the traditional Punjabi Bhangra folk dance to drum beats, chanting slogans of welcome. Party workers handed out sweets in the district, which was festooned with portraits of Sharif and green party flags.   

The 40-kilometre (25-mile) road leading to his family's suburban residence was also decorated with welcome arches and banners.   

His servants, busy cleaning the rooms on the sprawling estate, said they were "very happy that the Sharif family is returning after eight years."   

People also visited the grave of his father Mohammad Sharif to lay floral wreaths.   

Sharif was ousted in a coup by Pervez Musharraf in 1999. He tried to return in September this year but was unceremoniously deported within hours.   

This time a C-130 aircraft arrived in Lahore late Saturday with his family's personal belongings, party officials said, including an armour-plated Mercedes gifted to him by Saudi King Abdullah.   

Authorities have vacated another Sharif residence in Lahore itself, which had been turned into an old people's home when he was sent into exile, a party official said.   

Around two dozen people there were shifted to another centre and the house  was handed back to the party.   

Last month another former prime minister, Benazir Bhutto, returned after eight years of self-exile, but her homecoming parade was attacked by bombers who killed 139 people and wounded more than 300.