ISLAMABAD, SEPTEMBER 10: Former Pakistan prime minister Nawaz Sharif was arrested here today and flown to Saudi Arabia after he arrived here intent on leading an effort to oust current president, General Pervez Musharraf.

The harsh government action is an indication of the profound threat that Sharif poses for Musharraf and appears to fly in the face of a recent Supreme Court ruling that ordered that Sharif should be allowed to return to Pakistan unhindered. It will set the stage for another clash with the country’s newly independent chief justice, lawyers warned.

Sharif was dragged out of a lounge in the Islamabad airport by several police officers after being served with an arrest warrant for a money laundering case that was revived recently. The government also arrested almost all the members of the leadership of his political party as they tried to travel to the airport to greet him.

It was unclear exactly on what basis Sharif left the country. Tariq Azim Khan, Pakistan’s state minister for information, said Sharif had chosen to leave for Saudi Arabia, where he has been in exile, instead of remaining in Pakistan under arrest.

“While he was being taken to detention, he was offered, if he wanted to avail the opportunity, to go to Saudi Arabia as per the agreement,” Khan said. “He opted to go to Saudi Arabia. We arranged a special flight and he flew out of Islamabad.” Sharif arrived in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia, a few hours later, Saudi officials said. He was then whisked away in a convoy with sirens blaring to his residence in Al-Hamra district, known locally as the Sharif Palace, near the US consulate.

Saudi officials said he would be making no public statements.

But lawyers travelling with Sharif said the arrest and what they called his deportation were unlawful and were setting the government up for a clash with the country’s Supreme Court. “The whole episode was very unlawful and was a clear contempt of court,” said Amjad Malik, a British lawyer who had accompanied Sharif on his return to Pakistan. “It is a violation of the law of Pakistan. It is a criminal offence to kidnap someone and take them out of the country.”

The popularity of the court’s chief justice, Iftikhar Muhammad Chaudhry, exploded earlier this year when Musharraf suspended him for four months, and his subsequent reinstatement signalled a new independence on the part of the court from Musharraf.

The move by the government today could sideline a potentially powerful political opponent of Musharraf or embolden the growing opposition to his rule.

Sharif was toppled in a bloodless coup by Musharraf in 1999. He was hoping to end his seven years in exile and begin his challenge to the current government, in elections due this fall, when he boarded a Pakistan International Airlines flight from London on Sunday.

He was coming home to a country gripped by uncertainty, anticipation and anxiety about the government’s response to his return.

A court official in Pakistan representing the National Accountability Bureau, retired Lt. Col. Azhar Mahmud Qazi, said that Sharif was arrested after a police officer had served a warrant charging him with money laundering. The amount involved, the official said, was about $31.5 million.

“I am amazed by this fabricated case,” Sharif said as he was shoved through the crowd in the Islamabad airport. “I’m amazed, I’m shocked.”

Hours before his arrival, the police sealed off the airport to prevent Sharif’s supporters from greeting him. Clashes were reported on the roads leading to the airport, in other parts of the capital and in other cities across Punjab Province, with the police firing tear gas canisters and using baton charges to disperse protesters.

After he had been detained, many of the police officers manning the roadblocks around the airport asked for news of Sharif and some expressed unhappiness that he had been arrested.

“Not happy,” said one policeman, named Rashid. “It was his natural desire to live in Pakistan.”

“It’s not good,” said another policeman, named Qazalabash. “He came back to his home country after seven years. It’s not good they arrested him.”

After it touched down today, Sharif’s plane taxied to a stop away from the terminal and then sat on the runway for about 90 minutes. About 100 police officers, some with weapons, surrounded the aircraft.

A police officer boarded the aircraft and asked Sharif, who was surrounded by about 15 aides and 30 journalists, to disembark, but he refused, asking first for a guarantee that he would not be arrested or deported. He also asked for a bus to accommodate the entire group.

A member of Britain’s House of Lords, Lord Nazir Ahmed, was present on the plane, and he negotiated with the police to allow Sharif’s safe transportation into the terminal.

Eventually the police around the aircraft stood back, and Sharif was able to leave the plane and board a bus. He was taken to a VIP lounge in the terminal, where he was waiting to go through immigration when he was arrested.

“I think it is a dream come true after seven years to see your own country,” he said, after getting off the plane, and before his formal arrest and deportation. “It is a great feeling.”

Internal matter, say India and US

• INDIA: Describing the Sharif episode as an “internal matter” of Pakistan, External Affairs Minister Pranab Mukherjee said: “We want a peaceful, prosperous and stable neighbour.”

• US: Calling it an “internal matter”, the White House urged that the upcoming Pakistan elections be “free and fair.”

• UK, EU: The European Union and the UK voiced concern over Sharif’s deportation and urged the Pakistan government to uphold the rule of law.