Islamabad: Former Pakistani prime minister Nawaz Sharif is planning to return home despite being bundled out of the country hours after trying to come back last month, a leader of his party said on Tuesday.
Another former Pakistani prime minister, Benazir Bhutto, is due to return home on Thursday to lead her party in a general election due by mid-January.
Bhutto has been in negotiations on a power-sharing pact with military president Pervez Musharraf, who on Oct. 5 promulgated an ordinance erasing corruption charges against the two-time prime minister.
But the controversial ordinance, which is being challenged in the Supreme Court, did not clear charges hanging over Sharif, whom Musharraf ousted in 1999 and sent into exile in Saudi Arabia the following year.
The government says he agreed to stay in exile for 10 years when he avoided a prison sentence and went into exile.
"He aims to return," said Raja Zafar-ul-Haq, chairman of Sharif's faction of the Pakistan Muslim League. "A party meeting will held in London soon to decide on the date of Mr
Sharif's return."
Musharraf swept an electoral college vote for a new term as president on Oct. 6.
But his victory awaits the approval of the Supreme Court. It is considering opposition challenges to Musharraf's eligibility to run for office while army chief, even though he has promised to quit the army before being sworn in for a new term by Nov. 15.
The court is due to resume its hearing on Wednesday.
