Police seized Asif Ali Zardari as he stepped off a plane at Islamabad airport, party officials said, hours after a court cancelled his bail in the case of the murder of a high court judge and his son.

Violent clashes erupted between police and hundreds of Zardari's supporters outside the airport, with police baton-charging the crowds and using teargas to disperse them, according to witnesses.

"This is clearly political victimisation," Zardari told AFP as he was boarding the plane. "The way they have cancelled the bail clearly shows that they are scared of my popularity," he added.

Zardari, 48, had been tipped to become a key political figure in Pakistan following his release in November in the last of 17 cases of graft, murder and drug smuggling.