ISLAMABAD, Aug 11: Acting president of the Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) Makhdoom Javed Hashmi is leaving for the United Arab Emirates (UAE) on Sunday where he will meet former prime minister Nawaz Sharif and his brother Shahbaz Sharif.

Talking to Dawn here on Saturday, Mr Hashmi said that he would depart for Dubai from Islamabad on Sunday noon and would return to the country on the morning of August 14 to take part in the first public meeting of the opposition parties from the platform of the All Parties Democratic Movement (APDM) at Liaquat Bagh in Rawalpindi the same evening.

Mr Hashmi said that he would be present in the Supreme Court when the court would hear the petition of the Sharif seeking their return to the country. He said that he was planning to visit his home town Multan on August 20.

Replying to a question, he said the present political situation and future party strategy would be discussed in his meeting with Nawaz Sharif. He said the organisational matters of the party would also come up for discussion.

PML-N information secretary Ahsan Iqbal told Dawn that Mr Sharif would reach Dubai from London on Sunday and his meeting with Mr Hashmi was expected to take place on Monday. Mr Iqbal said that he was not aware whether Shahbaz Sharif would also be present in the meeting as he was planning to go to Norway in a day or two.

Mr Hashmi will be meeting the Sharif brothers, who were sent on exile to Saudi Arabia in December 2000, after a gap of almost eight years. Before being sent to Saudi Arabia, former prime minister Nawaz Sharif and former Punjab chief minister Shahbaz Sharif had spent almost a year in different jails after their arrest on October 12, 1999 during a military coup.

Later, Mr Hashmi was arrested by the police and intelligence agencies officials on October 29, 2003 from Parliament Lodges in Islamabad on charges of inciting mutiny against army.

The PML-N leader was convicted and awarded 23-year imprisonment. He was finally released from Kot Lakhpat Jail, Lahore, on August 4 on bail granted by the Supreme Court of Pakistan.