ISLAMABAD, Pakistan (CNN) -- Former Pakistani Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif's return to Pakistan after seven years in exile ended quickly Monday, as police ordered him to board a flight for Saudi Arabia.
Former Pakistani PM Nawaz Sharif talks to media aboard his flight from London to Islamabad late Sunday.
Sharif was briefly taken into police custody at the Islamabad airport about 90 minutes after he arrived aboard a flight from London. He was placed on another commercial airliner about 30 minutes later for a flight to Jeddah, Saudi Arabia, where he has spent his exile,
Meanwhile, police used tear gas and batons against Sharif supporters near the airport Monday morning and arrested 635 of them, the sources said.
Federal Minister Sheikh Rashid Ahmed said those taken into custody would be released soon.
Police commandoes immediately surrounded Sharif's plane after it landed and boarded it along with government officials, police sources said.
"I have a message of hope. I have a message of tranquility, peace and national reconciliation," Sharif had told reporters on the plane.
After 90 minutes of negotiations, during which Sharif refused to hand over his passport, he was allowed to enter the airport where he was taken into custody and then put on a plane out of Pakistan.
Watch Sharif's plane at Islamabad airport »
Ahead of his arrival, the Pakistani government arrested more than 2,800 of Sharif's supporters, including members of parliament, police sources said. Most of those arrested were in Punjab province, a stronghold of support for Sharif, police sources said. Also arrested early Monday were Pakistan Muslim League Chairman Zafar ul Haq and Acting President Jawaid Hashmi.
A government official said the arrests occurred because the government has banned public rallies.
Security around Islamabad's airport was also tightened, police sources said.
A number of journalists said police had beaten them.
After his arrival in Islamabad, Sharif had planned to travel in a motorcade to his home and political base in Lahore, about 180 miles (290 kilometers) to the south, according to The Associated Press.
"If he is arrested, then we will take a legal course," Shahbaz Sharif, who is president of the Muslim League, earlier told CNN from London.
"If he [Gen. Pervez Musharraf] does anything unlawful or illegal against him ... there will be the whole entire Pakistan against him, and I think Musharraf's days will be numbered," Shahbaz Sharif said. "He's already mortally wounded."
Shahbaz Sharif, who was chief minister, or top executive, of Punjab province, is charged with ordering police to kill five men in Lahore in 1998. At the time of the killings, his brother was Pakistan's prime minister.
It was Nawaz Sharif whom Musharraf deposed in a 1999 bloodless coup. Convicted of tax evasion and treason, Sharif was released in 2000 in exchange for agreeing to 10 years of exile. He has been in exile in Saudi Arabia since then and under the agreement was not allowed to travel or directly take part in Pakistani politics.
But that agreement changed last week, when Pakistan's Supreme Court lifted the exile order and Sharif, who retains his Pakistani citizenship, announced his plans to return.
Sharif has hinted that he may try to regain his position as prime minister, and he has blasted fellow opposition leader Benazir Bhutto for negotiating with Musharraf on a possible power-sharing deal.
Shahbaz Sharif said Musharraf had blocked the roads to Islamabad's airport to prevent people from welcoming his brother back.
Musharraf's popularity has plummeted in recent months. He indicated last Wednesday that he might try to block Sharif's return, according to a report from Pakistan's official news agency.
But in an interview last month with CNN, Nawaz Sharif said he was not concerned that he would be jailed upon returning to Pakistan because "I am absolutely clean and clear."
"There are no charges of corruption against me," he said. "If Musharraf tries to fabricate false cases against me, we will face them."And the US view
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