24 January 2005	Monday	13 Zilhaj 1425

LAHORE, Jan 23: PML-N president Mian Shahbaz Sharif is likely to make another attempt to return homeland in March as the powers-that-be are assuring him of a situation different than what he had faced during his last attempt on May 11, 2004.

However, local party leaders are rejecting the report as dis information by the government to confuse political forces in the country. Mian Shahbaz is presently in the United States for his medical check-up.

Senior PML-N leaders told Dawn on Sunday that foreign minister Khurshid Mahmood Kasuri had contacted the Sharifs about 10 days ago to convey them the "reconciliation" message of the authorities.

Party patron Mian Nawaz Sharif has been asked to stay back in Saudi Arabia until "some proper time" while allowing the younger brother to return Pakistan. Local party leaders have been consulted for their advice on response to the government's offer, the sources said.

Attempts to contact Mr Kasuri for his comments at his Lahore and Islamabad residences remained abortive. A senior official of the ruling PML, who requested not to be named, said he believed that Mian Shahbaz would return home while both factions of the Muslim League would also be unified this year.

PML-N parliamentary leader in the Punjab Assembly Rana Sanaullah, however, termed the reports a dis information campaign of the government to keep divided opposition forces which were likely to unite against Gen Musharraf in the near future. He said neither the government had made any such offer nor Mian Shahbaz had so far made any plan to return home.