The United Arab Emirates deported Pakistan's leader of Opposition in the National Assembly and pro-Taliban cleric Maulana Fazlur Rehman, after keeping him in detention at the Dubai airport for two days.
Rehman, General Secretary of Islamic alliance Muthahida Majlis Amal (MMA) and head of Jamat Ulema Islami (JUI) was held at Dubai airport on Sunday night by immigration officials, saying his name figured in a "black list".
Rehman, who arrived in UAE from Libya on way to Saudi Arabia to attend a conference there on Thursday, was denied a transit visa, but was allowed to stay at a hotel at the airport.
He was sent back to Pakistan in the wee hours of Tuesday in an Emirates aircraft and reached his hometown of Peshawar, where he was received by senior party leaders.
On his arrival, an angry Rehman said he "will lodge a protest with the UAE government" and was in consultation with his lawyers for deciding the nature of the protest.
"I will also table a privilege motion in the National Assembly to know as to why I was kept at the Dubai airport," he said.
He said he will look into the possibility of Pakistan government's involvement in the whole matter. "I was not given any reason by the Dubai immigration authorities," Rehman said.
Asked if his detention is linked with the war on terror, he said he travelled to Europe and he did not face any such treatment even in Western countries.
Meanwhile, MMA has attributed the
incident to the failure of the Pakistani Foreign Office to keep national
leaders informed about the treatment they were expected to meet on foreign
shores.