LAHORE, Aug 12: Former prime minister Mian Nawaz Sharif says there is no case pending against him in any court and reports that the National Accountability Bureau has approached the accountability courts to seek reopening of various ‘cases’ is an attempt to find a pretext to block his return to Pakistan.

However, he said, he would come back to Pakistan no matter what the consequences.

Talking to Dawn from the United Arab Emirates where he is on a four-day private visit with his family, he said the government could not find anything against him during the past eight years. But now that he is planning to return home, the government has started talking of cases against him.

“Perhaps, Gen Musharraf always thinks of illegal and immoral things,” Mr Sharif said bitterly.

Asked whether he would seek legal remedy against the reported NAB move, the Pakistan Muslim League (Nawaz) chief said such a course was adopted only when the accusations had some legal basis.

“I am a man of the people. The government has failed to face me politically,” he said.

Replying to a question about the much talked-about agreement with the government which required him and his family to stay out of the country for 10 years, Mr Sharif said there was no such agreement and he did not know what the government planned to produce before the Supreme Court.

“There’s no agreement between me and Gen Musharraf. Why should we make any agreement with him?”

He laughed off a suggestion by President Musharraf that the Sharifs, Benazir Bhutto and some others should not come back to Pakistan. “Where else should I go? I am determined to come back to Pakistan.”

He said Gen Musharraf wanted to perpetuate his power and “I can’t tailor my programme according to his wishes.”

Asked how long it would take him to come back in case the Supreme Court accepted his petition, the exiled former prime minister said he would be able to give a schedule after the court’s verdict.

Mr Sharif said the elections should be held on time. However, he regretted that there was uncertainty all around and nobody knew when the polls would be held, whether the term of the assemblies would be extended through emergency rule and whether the general would seek re-election from the current assemblies.

Uncertainty, he said satirically, was the only gift the country could expect during a dictatorial period.

He reiterated that parties in the All Parties’ Democratic Movement were committed to quitting the assemblies in case Gen Musharraf sought fresh mandate from them. He said claims that the president could get majority votes required for another term despite resignations by opposition legislators could not override the Constitution and morality.

Under the Constitution, Gen Musharraf was not qualified to contest election of president, the former prime minister said, adding that it would be tantamount to bypassing the basic law if the general still went ahead.

Answering a question, Mr Sharif said the PPP chairperson’s contacts with Gen Musharraf would not affect the APDM’s struggle for democracy.