Islamabad/Lahore, Nov. 25: Exiled former Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif, who was deposed by Gen. Pervez Musharraf in a coup on October 12, 1999 and sent into exile in Saudi Arabia a year later, finally managed to return home to Lahore on Sunday after living abroad for the past seven years.

He is the second former Prime Minister, after Ms Benazir Bhutto, to end his exile before the January 8 general election in Pakistan.

Mr Sharif had made an attempt to return to the country a little more than two months ago, when he flew in on a Pakistan International Airlines flight from London on September 10 this year, but he was arrested at the airport itself and sent packing to Saudi Arabia once again within hours of arrival.

This time, however, his homecoming was a little smoother, and a lot more frenzied. Thousands of his supporters pushed past police barricades into Lahore airport, carrying Mr Sharif and his brother Shahbaz on their shoulders and cheering wildly as the returning leader stood before them on a raised platform. A bulletproof car carrying Mr Sharif left the airport in a procession, surrounded by screaming supporters, towards the centre of the city.

Tight security had surrounded Mr Sharif after the plane carrying him from Saudi Arabia touched down, but it appeared to melt away amid the chaos. The scene at Lahore airport was eerily reminiscent of the early jubilation that greeted Ms Benazir Bhutto, another former Prime Minister, when she returned to Karachi on October 18. Ms Bhutto's return had been greeted with a massive suicide bomb that killed about 150 people in a procession through the streets.

The plane in which Mr Sharif came home along with some 40 family members was provided by King Abdullah of Saudi Arabia, as was the armoured Mercedes limousine which took Mr Sharif into the city from the airport.

Pakistan Television showed Mr Sharif, dressed in his trademark white shirt and a dark waistcoat, on an airport stairwell next to his brother Shahbaz and surrounded by security officials, waving to the cameras.

Earlier, the security forces had rounded up some Sharif activists and attempted to seal off the airport. But about 1,000 of his supporters found a way through the tight security to swarm into the terminal building, waving the green flag of his Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz and shouting slogans, including "Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif" and "Go, Musharraf, go!"

Mr Ahsan Iqbal, a spokesman for the PML(N), said some 1,800 activists were detained to prevent them joining the welcome party.

Pakistan President Gen. Pervez Musharraf had until recently ruled out any political role for either Mr Sharif or Ms Bhutto. But after the recent threats to his power, he had allowed them to return if they do not directly target his political role.

Gen. Musharraf had promulgated a National Reconciliation Ordinance (NRO), giving concessions to Ms Bhutto but mandating that Mr Sharif would not benefit from it. This, however, changed, after the intervention of the Saudi royal family, which exercises considerable influence in Pakistan.

In Lahore, for a day at least, the mood was one of celebration, despite the restrictions in force due to the state of emergency. The 40-km route to the Sharif family residence in the suburbs was decorated with welcome arches and banners, and on the sprawling estate his servants could be seen busily cleaning the rooms. The authorities also handed over another Sharif residence in Lahore, which had been turned into an old people's home after he was banished, sending its residents to another centre nearby.

Mr Sharif was reported to have met Pakistan's powerful intelligence chief Lt. Gen. Nadeem Taj in Saudi Arabia and returned home after an "understanding" was reached, sources said. "He must go by the rules and not indulge in confrontationist politics," a government official said.

Mr Nawaz Sharif's return is expected to energise an Opposition that is split over its role, with many arguing that to take part in the January 8 vote would legitimise Gen. Musharraf's tactics.

The PML-N, for its part, has denied that there was any deal with the government on Mr Sharif's homecoming. "We don't believe in deals. He is coming back because the people of the country want him back," PML-N leader Raja Zafrul Haq said before Mr Sharif's arrival.

Talking to reporters after his arrival in Lahore, Mr Sharif said he was determined to rid the country of dictatorship. "We want democracy and nothing else. I am here to play my role and also make my own efforts to rid the country of dictatorship," he said.

Mr Sharif added: "The people of the country have a right to decide their future. That is it."