Islamabad – The 7-year old exile of the former Pakistan Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif ended today when he landed home after a tense 90-minute standoff with authorities.

57 years old Sharif was sent into exile in Saudi Arabia in 2000. He has returned home, despite a Saudi official's plea for him to stay away for the sake of stability.

Sharif, who has come back with a mission to challenge President Pervez Musharraf, was received by a lot of his supporters. Surrounded by supporters, he walked into a bus that drove him to a terminal building where he entered a lounge.

On his return, Sharif said, “I feel great, I'm prepared to face any situation."
His return is certainly going give uneasy times to General Musharraf, the army chief who ousted Sharif in 1999 and exiled him.

The protesters, waving party flags and holding up portraits of Sharif were continuously chanting, "Go Musharraf Go". The police had to fire teargas and use batons to disperse around 700 Sharif supporters and lawyers about three km away from the airport as he arrived. Supporters also threw stones at police, and many supporters skirmished with police in Islamabad.

The government however has not cleared yet, what it will do with Sharif but there are speculations that Sharif will be arrested on old corruption charges and perhaps deported.

The police has already detained about 4,000 Sharif supporters and several leaders of his Pakistan Muslim League (Nawaz) including the chairman, as well as three leaders of an allied religious alliance.

Sharif return has been viewed as a serious challenge for Musharraf in the present situation, when he has lost much support since trying to dismiss the country's top judge in March, and when he is preparing to seek another term in a presidential election in the national and provincial assemblies some time between Sept. 15 and Oct. 15.

Sharif has the backing of the Supreme Court that said last month that Sharif and his brother Shahbaz had the right to return and the government should not try to stop them.