LAHORE, Aug 9: ARD president Nawabzada Nasrullah Khan has sent separate messages to PPP chairperson Benazir Bhutto and PML- N leader Mian Nawaz Sharif, urging them to return to Pakistan even at the risk of being arrested or deported.

Sources told Dawn here on Saturday that the veteran politician believed that the return

of leaders of the two major parties would rekindle the public enthusiasm for restoration of democracy in the country, adding that it would make the people feel that their leaders were with them.

The Nawabzada, sources said, was convinced that the mass contact campaign that he wanted to launch from Aug 14 would take off within no time if both or any of the two leaders were present in the country.

The octogenarian leader, while appreciating the statements being issued by the two former leaders from abroad, felt that mere statements were insufficient to activate the masses or prepare them to face the challenges of the situation.

The Nawabzada is scheduled to go to Saudi Arabia on Aug 27 to perform Umra, but during his stay there he will also meet with PML-N leader Mian Nawaz Sharif. The matter is also expected to come under discussion at the meeting.

The ARD chief will also meet the PPP chairperson before or after his meeting with Nawaz Sharif.

There are indications that Benazir Bhutto has directed the PPP leaders and workers to follow the Nawabzada’s instructions about the mass contact campaign.

Meanwhile, the Nawabzada said while talking to reporters here on Saturday that corps commanders had no right to take decisions on political matters falling in the jurisdiction of the prime minister or the cabinet. And if they still wanted to call the shots, he said, they should wind up the system which they were calling democratic to dupe the world.