Ousted Pakistan PM flying home to jail, authorities lock down Lahore city

ISLAMABAD / LAHORE (Reuters) – Ousted Pakistani Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif and his daughter Maryam, both sentenced to lengthy absentee, are due to return to Pakistan on Friday in a high-stakes gamble to galvanize their beleaguered party ahead of a July 25 general election.

Authorities have mobilized more than 10,000 police officers ahead of their arrival to the city of Lahore. Supporters of Sharif's Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) party say they will march to the airport there, where the prime minister is heading to land, in defiance of a ban on all-public rallies.

Sharif is returning from Britain one week after an anti-corruption short handed him to a 10-year term in London.

Their return could be marred by claims Pakistan's powerful military was skewing the contest in favor of ex-cricket hero Imran Khan.

Sharif alleges the military is aiding a "judicial witchhunt" against him and his PML-N party. The party's past five years in power has been punctuated by the civil-military discord that has plagued Pakistan since its inception.

"Nawaz really believes this is about democracy and his legacy," Musadik Malik, Sharif ally and PML-N cabinet minister, told Reuters.

"What is why he is willing to lose 10 years of his life over this."

Sharif's PML-N expects a groundswell of support as he returns from London, where his wife Kulsoom is critically ill and undergoing cancer treatment .

To prevent PML-N workers staging a hero's welcome on the streets, authorities said they would arrest the father and daughter on landing and transport them to the capital by local media reported.

Party officials say the police have begun to crack down on them, detaining hundreds of workers in the early hours on Friday.

Recent opinion polls suggest PML-N has lost its lead nationally to Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) party of arch-rival Khan, whose anti-corruption message has resonated with many Pakistanis.

Khan has painted Sharif as a "criminal" who has looted the state for decades, and welcomes his prison term overdue accountability.

Sharif was ordered after the failure to explain the situation in London. Maryam was convicted for concealing ownership of the apartments. The both deny wrongdoing.

MILITARY FAVORITE

Sharif, 68, has cast himself as a defender of democracy, a far cry from the beginning of his political life when he was the protege of the dictator General Zia ul-Haq and had his career nurtured by the generals in the 1980s.

He was elected prime minister in 1990-93. A second stint in power was completed by a military coup in 1999, prompting a period in jail for Sharif and years in exile in London. When he returned to power in 2013, he clashed with the military over how to deal with Islamist activists and his desire for friendlier relations with arch-foe India.

After the Supreme Court disqualified Sharif in July 2017 for not declaring a small source of income which he denied receiving, he toured the nuclear-armed country urging voters to protect the "sanctity of the vote".

"Despite seeing the bars of prison in front of my eyes, I am going to Pakistan," Sharif told Pakistani news this week in London, where he vowed to re-assert "civilian supremacy".

The opposition Pakistan People Party (PPP) has also alleged "pre-poll rigging" this week, but did not specifically name the armed forces.

The military, which has ruled Pakistan for about half its history since 1947, has denied interfering in modern-day politics. It plans to place 371,000 soldiers around polling stations so there can be a "free and fair" elections, it added.

"WE ARE WINNING"

Sharif's return comes at a time of dwindling fortunes for his party, which one year ago was considered a favorite run-away to retain power.

After the Supreme Court ousted Sharif last July, the PML-N party was born. His brother Shehbaz became PML-N's president, but Sharif remains the power behind the throne.

Since then, a host of allies have been disqualified by the courts, or face corruption cases. Many PML-N lawmakers also defected to Khan's party.

PML-N has also been riven by internal divisions. Sections of the party opposes Sharif's combative approach against the army and fear it will turn off voters in a deeply conservative and patriotic Muslim nation of 208 million people.

The kind of reception Sharif receives on the streets of Lahore will be reviewed carefully in Pakistan, where political popularity is often measured by the size of the country.

PML-N leaders say authorities have started a crackdown against union council leaders, the street-level party workers who bring people on the streets.

"Those who think they can scare us …" We are winning this election, "Shehbaz Sharif told reporters in Lahore on Thursday.