'Sharif plane departs for Pakistan'

LAHORE: A plane carrying former Pakistani premier Nawaz Sharif left Saudi Arabia on Sunday to bring him home from exile, his nephew said.   

The nephew, Hamza Shabaz, said the plane departed from the Saudi city of Medina carrying Sharif and nearly 40 other people, mostly his relatives.   

Party officials in Lahore, Sharif's political bastion in eastern Pakistan, said it was due to land at around 5:25pm (1225 GMT).   

Sharif, who was ousted by Pervez Musharraf eight years ago and exiled to Saudi Arabia a year later, returns to a country under emergency rule and in political turmoil.   

It will be his second return from exile. The first attempt, on September 10, lasted just hours before he was unceremoniously deported again despite a Supreme Court ruling allowing him to remain.   

This time he is flying home with the apparent approval of the government, which has said it will not arrest him.   

In Lahore, thousands of supporters prepared a homecoming party, lining the streets and festooning the city with banners and posters.