Deposed Pakistan premier Nawaz Sharif is set to arrive in Lahore on Sunday after being deported unceremoniously to Saudi Arabia in September when he had briefly landed in Islamabad in a bid to end his seven-year exile, but his homecoming this time is expected to be smooth.
Fifty-seven-year-old Sharif will fly from Saudi Arabia, where he was first sent to exile in 2000, with his brother Shahbaz Sharif, wife Kulsoom and other family members on a special jet provided by the kingdom's authorities.
Strict security arrangements have been made in Lahore, with some 5,000 policemen deployed on the streets.
Security is especially tight around the airport, where Sharif's flight is expected to land between 3 pm and 4 pm local time.
Police have set up barb-wire barricades on the road to airport and are checking vehicles at random.
Officials have said they are taking no chances with security as Sharif is returning a day after two suicide bombings rocked Rawalpindi, the garrison city near Islamabad, which killed nearly 30 people.
The Saudi royal family has given Sharif a special bulletproof car, which was airlifted to Lahore on Saturday.
Pakistan Muslim League-N leaders claimed dozens of its workers were detained on Satuday night, but said they were determined to mobilise thousands of people to greet Sharif on his return.
This will be Sharif's second homecoming in three months, but he is expected to face a reception that will be markedly different to the one he got on September 10, when the two-time former premier was arrested and deported back to Saudi Arabia within four hours of landing in Islamabad.
