Sharifs to land in Lahore on Sunday

Islamabad: Exiled former prime minister Nawaz Sharif and his brother Shahbaz are set to return to Pakistan on Sunday.

Their party, the Pakistan Muslim League-N (PML-N), said the two leaders would travel by a special Saudi plane from Madinah, landing at Lahore at 5pm.

Begum Kulsoom, wife of the former prime minister, and some other members of the family will accompany them.

The Sharif brothers had bitter experiences in the past when they tried to re-enter their homeland after being exiled in December 2000, a year after the military overthrew the PML-N government in 1999 and General Pervez Musharraf seized power.

Shahbaz, former chief minister of Punjab province, was hurriedly sent back from the Lahore airport in 2004 while Nawaz Sharif was deported from the Islamabad airport to Saudi Arabia hours after he landed there on September 10.

Different situation

PML-N information secretary Ahsan Iqbal said the situation now was different and there was hardly any chance of a deportation replay by the government.

He did not elaborate, but other PML sources said the Saudi leadership had told Musharraf to let Nawaz Sharif return after having allowed former prime minister Benazir Bhutto to resume her role in domestic politics.

Sources in the government said Sharif was coming back as a result of an understanding reached with Musharraf.

They said ISI chief Lieutenant General Nadeem Taj had met him in Jeddah and during the talks the former prime minister agreed not to resort to anti-Mushrraf rhetoric in domestic politics in the run-up to the elections.

Musharraf visited Saudi Arabia earlier this week and held talks with King Abdullah Bin Abdul Aziz. Reports from Riyadh said the issue of Sharif's return figured during their talks.

Sharif on Friday made a farewell call on King Abdullah in Riyadh after which the PML-N announced his return to Pakistan.

In September, ahead of Sharif's return, Saudi intelligence chief Prince Muqrim and Lebanese politician Sa'ad Hariri had specially visited Islamabad and publicly urged the ex-premier to abide by his exile agreement to stay abroad for a decade.

A change in the Saudi attitude surfaced when Sharif was allowed to make political statements from his home in exile in Jeddah in recent weeks.

Ahsan Iqbal said PML-N workers and supporters were making hectic preparations to accord a big welcome to the Sharif brothers on their arrival in Lahore.

There was no official word on how the caretaker government viewed Sharif's arrival, but competent sources said there would be no attempt by the authorities to obstruct his return.

Former minister Shaikh Rashid Ahmad told a private channel that after Bhutto's return there was no moral ground to act differently with the other mainstream politician.

"All parties and leaders should participate in the elections," he said.

The return of Nawaz Sharif and Shahbaz Sharif is a good sign for Pakistan, especially with the general election just around the corner.
Fatyana
Toronto,Canada
Posted: November 25, 2007, 06:53