ISLAMABAD, Sept 8: The Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) has warned the government and police officials of dragging them to courts for violating the Supreme Court verdict if they created any hurdle in the return of the Sharif brothers to the country.

Speaking at a news conference here on Saturday, top PML-N leaders said they were preparing a list of police and government officials who were committing excesses against workers and activists of the party by raiding their homes to arrest them.“We are preparing a list of those officers, including the chief secretary, home secretary and the inspector general of police, Punjab, who are violating the Supreme Court’s decision. We will drag them in courts,” said acting PML-N president Makhdoom Javed Hashmi, adding: “The officers and the bureaucrats should realise that situation has changed in the country after March 9.” He claimed that so far over 1,500 party workers had been arrested in Punjab.

Mr Hashmi said those involved in illegal acts would not be tolerated in future and they could lose their jobs. He said that Pakistan’s army was not a “private army” of an individual. He regretted that the presidency was being “misused” against the people of Pakistan. He reiterated that the PML-N workers would reach the Islamabad airport to receive the Sharif brothers after overcoming all hurdles.

Mr Hashmi said it was regrettable that Gen Musharraf was dragging the brotherly countries into the internal matters of Pakistan just to save his rule. He said that Saad Hariri, son of former assassinated Lebanese prime minister Rafiq Hariri, and Saudi intelligence chief Prince Muqrin bin Abdul Aziz at their press conference in Islamabad on Saturday disclosed that they had come on the invitation of the Pakistan government and they were not concerned over the Sharifs’ return to their country.

MNA Chaudhry Nisar Ali Khan claimed that the government had sent a message to the Sharifs offering them that they could be free men in Pakistan provided they came to Pakistan after the presidential elections. He refuted Gen Musharraf’s claim that Nawaz Sharif was begging to go abroad.

He said the former prime minister was in Attock jail where Saad Hariri himself came to meet him. He said the understanding was reached on Saad Hariri’s initiative and not of Mr Sharif.

PML-N information secretary Ahsan Iqbal said the decisions about Pakistani people would now be made in the country and not in the capitals of other countries.

Tehmina Daultana termed the large-scale arrests of party workers a violation of human rights.