Ousted Pakistani prime minister Nawaz Sharif flew into the Saudi city of Jeddah on Sunday after being sent into exile and released from jail under a presidential pardon, a Saudi source said.
The source, asking not to be named, told AFP that Sharif arrived on a private Saudi plane along with several members of his family and was to stay in Jeddah for a mini-pilgrimage to nearby Mecca and Medina, home of Islam's holiest sites.
The ousted premier was to travel on to Riyadh to undergo medical tests at the capital's military hospital.
Former Pakistani prime minister Nawaz Sharif's sudden departure into exile Sunday in a suspected deal with the country's military rulers saddened loyalists in his divided party.
Dissidents who recently forced an open split in the Pakistan Muslim League (PML) by demanding election of a new leader, however, rejoiced over the dramatic development.
"This is unprecedented that the whole family has left," said a central PML leader Ejaz Shafi, a close aide to Sharif.
"Party workers may have been shocked but now General Pervez Musharraf can at least announce the elections after Sharif is out," he said.
Sharif, along with his father, wife and other close relatives, flew to Saudi Arabia after President Muhammad Rafiq Tarar granted him a pardon from a life term in jail following Musharraf's advice, an official statement said.
Another PML leader, Mushahidullah (eds: one name), said: "I feel sad. Anyhow I don't have to go to jail or agitate now for Sharif's release."
Musahidullah, who has been to prison twice for demonstrating in public, said exile was also a punishment.
"I hope PML workers will understand the circumstances Sharif and his family had gone through."
A female loyalist, Shamim Akhter, hit out at Sharif's wife Kulsoom.
"I blame Kulsoom for all this as she has been saying from the day one that her agenda is just to seek Sharif's release. She has succeeded but hurt feelings of millions of loyalists," she said.
"Kulsoom used to say Sharif was a lion who can not be kept in cage but we regret the way she has secured his release," party worker Ruksana Choudhary said.
Raja Zafarul Haq, who ran party affairs while Sharif was in jail, said a PML meeting would be held guide party workers.
Leaders in the anti-Sharif PML faction, accused to take stock of the situation and by loyalists of toeing the line of the military regime, did not hide their joy.
"I knew Sharif will ditch his colleagues and party workers," former governor of Punjab, Mian Mohammad Azhar, told AFP.
"I stand vindicated following the latest developments," said Azhar, who started challenging Sharif's leadership before the coup that ousted him in October last year -- ISLAMABAD (AFP)
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