ISLAMABAD, Pakistan - Allies of Pakistan's military ruler blocked opposition leader Imran Khan from entering the country's biggest city Wednesday, just days after the government sent a former prime minister back into exile.
President Gen. Pervez Musharraf is facing a barrage of criticism for Monday's expulsion of ex-premier Nawaz Sharif, a step which removed a key political rival who could have upset Musharraf's re-election plans.
On Wednesday, Khan flew into Karachi only for police to halt him at the airport and send him back to the capital.
The former cricket star was barred because his presence could cause unrest, city police chief Azher Farooqi said. More than a dozen Khan supporters, who had been chanting anti-Musharraf slogans, were detained, he said.
Khan denounced his removal as "state terrorism" by the Mutahida Qaumi Movement. The party controls the government of Sindh province, which has Karachi as its capital, and supports Musharraf at the federal level.
"Terrorism is the only way they know to reach their objectives," Khan told state-run Pakistan television.
Khan's Tehreek-e-Insaf party, or Movement for Justice, is small. But he is an outspoken critic of Musharraf and has accused the MQM of responsibility for violence at an opposition rally in Karachi on May 12 that killed about 40 people.
Sharif, whose second spell in office ended with Musharraf's 1999 coup, flew into Islamabad from London. Authorities halted him at the terminal and he left a few hours later for Saudi Arabia.
