Lord Nazir Ahmed of Rotherham, a man who can't stay away from any cause that might involve cameras, came to the rescue or as it happened in this case, to facilitate the inevitable. "Let's be civilised," he said to a young police officer who had already endeared himself to Sharif supporters by saluting the former prime minister. "Let's negotiate in British style. You tell us your demands and we'll tell you ours."
"We'll come down only if you remove the police commandoes surrounding this plane." As we watched from the windows, the black clad commandoes turned around, the slogan on the back of their T shirts read: No fear. They were replaced by civilians. One could easily tell they were military commandoes in civvies, armed with walkie- talkies, the kind of people who carry out abductions as a part of their day job.
"We wouldn't walk on the tarmac."
"OK we'll bring the bus to the aeroplane."
Lord Nazir's British-style negotiations were being carried out in Punjabi and seemed to be succeeding.
Nawaz Sharif descended the ladder and one could tell that he had waited for this moment for seven years. He stood there, struck that pose familiar to our nation from a million election posters, and waved. A police squad standing at a distance waved back spontaneously. But besides that there was nothing but the desolation of the Pindi airport which was recently described by a visitor as a tool shed with a runway. As we later found out the five mile radius around the airport had been completely blocked by the army.
Feeling safe in the airline bus Nawaz Sharif produced a comb from his pocket and fixed his hair.
Photograph: Soon after this wave Nawaz Sharif was sent back to exile in Saudi Arabia. Photograph: Richard Beeston/AFP/Getty Images
Also read: 'Deportation contempt of court'
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