ISLAMABAD, Aug 24: Executive committees of the People’s Party Parliamentarians and the Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz will hold separate meetings in the next few days to devise

a strategy for the return of their exiled leaders.

PML-N’s central working committee will hold an emergency session on Saturday while members of the PPP’s central executive committee have been asked by party’s chairperson Benazir Bhutto to reach London by Aug 28. Important decisions are likely to be made by Sept 2.

PML-N’s information secretary Ahsan Iqbal said that the emergency meeting of the party’s working committee “will discuss the unhindered return of Nawaz and Shahbaz Sharif” besides discussing various options about the timing and venue for the Sharif brothers’ return.

Mr Iqbal said the committee would finalise its recommendations and then a delegation would go to London to inform Nawaz Sharif about the party leaders’ decision. He said that the final decision would be taken by Mr Sharif.

Ruling out the possibility of Ms Bhutto and Mr Sharif returning together, he said that Ms Bhutto was negotiating her return with Gen Musharraf while Mr Sharif would be returning after winning a legal battle. He said Ms Bhutto wanted to come to Pakistan with an understanding with the military regime while Mr Sharif would be returning in defiance of the rulers. Mr Iqbal said the question about who returned first was irrelevant as people would only support the leader who returned home without compromising on principles of democracy.

PPP’s spokesman Farhatullah Babar said that Ms Bhutto’s plan to return to Pakistan would not be affected by the Supreme Court’s verdict and Nawaz Sharif’s subsequent return.

He said the party’s plans would be in accordance with recommendations finalised during Wednesday’s meeting of the party’s top-level committee and subject to the approval of the executive committee that was likely to meet in London soon.

When asked about the possibility of Ms Bhutto and Mr Sharif returning together, he said there had been no contact between the two former prime ministers since the formation of the All Parties Democratic Movement last month.

PPP’s Raza Rabbani, leader of the opposition in the Senate, said it did not matter who returned first but it would be in the interest of democratic forces if the two former prime ministers ran their parties’ election campaigns.

He also ruled out the possibility of the two leaders’ simultaneous return but said Ms Bhutto and Mr Sharif were not averse to the idea. He said the party’s executive committee would take a final decision in this regard.

The central and provincial office-bearers of the PPP met here on Wednesday to discuss the strategy for presidential and general elections and review political, legal and administrative aspects Ms Bhutto’s the return.

According to the sources, PPP’s vice-chairman Makhdoom Amin Fahim and Mr Babar, who recently met Ms Bhutto in the US, briefed party leaders about the meeting between the former prime and President Pervez Musharraf in Abu Dhabi.