LAHORE/ISLAMABAD, Aug 25: The political scene seems set for dramatic developments as all indications suggest former prime minister Nawaz Sharif is ready to return home before Ramazan. The holy month is to begin in mid-September.

Nadir Chaudhri, a spokesman for Nawaz Sharif, told Dawn from London that Shahbaz Sharif would, in all likelihood, accompany Mr Nawaz.

In Islamabad, the central working committee of the Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz suggested that the former prime minister and the former Punjab chief minister return by Sept 10.

Nadir Chaudhri said the final date would be decided by the PML-N in consultation with other members of the All Parties Democratic Movement.

The exiled prime minister’s spokesman was confident that the government would not be able to block Mr Sharif’s return.

“We had gone to the Supreme Court knowing fully well the situation. And as far as we are concerned, we have no problem with any outside party for our return to Pakistan,” Nadir Chaudhri said.

He said preparations were being made for the return of the Sharif brothers to Pakistan. According to him, a list of media persons was being prepared who would be accompanying the PML-N leaders back home.

The Islamabad meeting of the PML-N’s central working committee had been convened by the party’s chairman Raja Zafarul Haq.

The party’s morale got another boost when an accountability court in Rawalpindi turned down the government’s plea to issue arrest warrants against Nawaz Sharif and other family members in corruption cases.

The request had been made by the National Accountability Bureau (NAB).

Sources told Dawn that the committee unanimously agreed that if the party were serious in stopping Gen Pervez Musharraf’s re-election, Nawaz Sharif should be in the country at the time of the presidential poll.

They said the working committee had set Sept 9 as a tentative date for the Sharif brothers’ return. No decision was made about where they should land, but most of the CWC members wanted them to land in Lahore while some of them proposed Peshawar.

According to the sources, the members were of the view that both Nawaz and Shahbaz Sharif should return together, but if the party decided against this, they would suggest that Nawaz Sharif should be the first to land in Pakistan.

The party’s chairman, Raja

Zafarul Haq, who is believed to have close links with the Saudi royal family, told the CWC that the authorities in Riyadh had no objection to the return of the Sharif family. He claimed that during a recent visit to Saudi Arabia, Gen Pervez Musharraf had raised the issue, but ‘received no response’.

Ahsan Iqbal, the PML-N’s information secretary, told Dawn that a ‘final decision’ about the date and venue of arrival would be taken by Nawaz Sharif after a meeting with party leaders, likely to be held on Aug 29.

Mr Iqbal said if the government were serious in holding talks with the PML-N, Gen Musharraf should announce that he would not seek re-election. The PML-N, he said, also wanted to restore the constitution as it stood on Oct 12, 1999.