ISLAMABAD, Sept 5: PML-N leader Nawaz Sharif said on Wednesday that he would make a ‘new approach’ to Saudi Arabia’s King Abdullah after the kingdom publicly advised him to abide by an asylum deal that bound the former prime minister not to return to Pakistan or take part in politics for 10 years.

The Saudi demand, made in a statement issued by a government spokesman on Tuesday night, came as a bombshell for the Pakistan Muslim League-N plans to give its leader a rousing welcome on his return on Sept 10 after more than six and a half years’ exile.

Talking to a private television channel from London, Mr Sharif vowed to return home on the announced date to answer what he called “on call of my conscience” and to “free the country from clutches of the dictatorship”. The He refused to discuss the contents of the Saudi statement, carried by the official Saudi Press Agency (SPA). The statement quoted an unnamed official spokesman as denying Pakistani press reports that Riyadh supported the return of Mr Nawaz and his family to Pakistan. It said: “Wisdom dictates that Mr Nawaz Sharif abide by his promise not to return to Pakistan and to political activity.”

Repeatedly refusing to comment on the unusual Saudi statement reminding him of the deal, he called it a “sensitive matter”.

He said: “I have already conveyed my feelings to the Saudi King as I am constantly in touch with him”.

He did not indicate what would be his line of action with the Saudi government having said in the statement that it had offered him asylum for “humanitarian considerations” and that the Pakistani government and Gen Musharraf had positively responded to its request.

Mr Sharif thanked the Saudi government for its hospitability during his stay in the kingdom and asked: “Why the (Pakistani) rulers are afraid of my return? Why can’t I take part in the election?”

“No dictator could stop me (from homecoming),” he said, adding: “It is not possible for me now to remain abroad when the dictatorship is preparing to suck the blood of innocent people for another five years,” he claimed.

The former prime minister said it was his responsibility to help the nation get rid of the military dictatorship.

Interestingly, while Mr Sharif avoided to comment on the Saudi statement, his senior party colleagues in Islamabad appeared to doubt the authenticity of the statement and some of them even termed it part of the government campaign to block the return of the Sharifs.

PML-N chairman Raja Zafarul Haq told a news conference that his party had doubts about the authenticity of the Saudi government statement, adding: “I don’t think it is the official position of the Saudi government.”

He said the Saudi government did not require to convey any message through the media as there were “good relations” between the families of Mr Sharif and the Saudi king.

He claimed that when Mr Sharif had left Saudi Arabia for Britain, he had paid a farewell call on the Saudi royal family to offer his thanks to them for their hospitability during his stay in the kingdom.

Accompanied by party’s secretary general Iqbal Zafar Jhagra and information secretary Ahsan Iqbal, Mr Haq said Mr Sharif had pledged to the Saudi government that he would not take part in politics as long as he stayed in the kingdom.

He said that during his stay in Saudi Arabia, Mr Sharif fully complied with the Saudi laws, and started taking part in politics only after arriving in London. The PML-N leader claimed that the Saudi authorities had never objected to the Sharifs’ activities in London.

He alleged that the government was trying to torpedo the Supreme Court’s Aug 23 verdict and it had already arrested more than 250 PML-N workers and activists to prevent the party leaders and workers from welcoming the Sharifs on Sept 10.