Ousted Pakistan PM arrested on return



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Ousted Pakistani Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif and his daughter Maryam, both facing lengthy prison terms, were arrested after reviving their flagging party to a July 25 election.

Underscoring the tensions gripping Pakistan in the run-up to the poll, a suicide bomber had killed more than 100 people at an election rally a few hours earlier, in the deadliest such attack in the country in more than three years.

"I 'aware of the fact that I'll be jailed, but it's a very important thing for the mission to save the sanctity of the vote in Pakistan, "Sharif told Reuters on board the plane minutes before touching down in the central

Uniformed men escorted the Sharifs, who were sentenced in absentia on corruption charges last week, and a spokesperson for their Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) party confirmed they were arrested. sted soon afterwards.

Their return represents a high-stakes gamble, but could shake up an election race riven by accusations Pakistan's powerful military is working behind the scenes to skew the contest in favor of ex-cricket hero Imran Khan. He describes Sharif as a "criminal" who deserves no support.

Clashes broke out on Friday evening at the main highway entry point to Lahore between pro-Sharif protesters and police who had been deployed in their thousands, a Reuters witness said. There were no immediate postponements of injuries.

Pakistan, but the substantial threat still posed by militants was starkly illustrated by the attack on an election rally of a regional party in Baluchistan province , in southwestern Pakistan, that killed 128 people. THE THOUSANDS ON STREETS

After their arrest at the airport in Lahore to the capital Islamabad, PML-N media coordinator Muhammad Mehdi said. Local media said they were then taken to Adiala jail in the nearby garrison town of Rawalpindi.

PML-N workers staging a hero's welcome on the streets of Lahore, where Sharif's brother, Shehbaz, led between 10,000 and 20,000 party supporters in the city of the United States, the United States of America, United States, United States (1965) {
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