ISLAMABAD, Sept 10: Ruling Pakistan Muslim League president Chaudhry Shujaat Hussain said on Monday that former prime minister Nawaz Sharif was given a choice between going back to Saudi Arabia and remaining in the country to face court cases but he had preferred the first option.

(The AP news agency, however, said that Mr Sharif had opted for the second option.)

In a statement, Mr Hussain said: “I don’t want to indulge in legal aspects of the matter but the government was under Saudi moral pressure to send Nawaz Sharif back which was done in good faith.”

He said the Sharifs had reached an agreement to stay in Saudi Arabia for ten years, which they were dishonouring. He said Mr Sharif admitted that he had left the country under an undertaking after seven years of denials but stressing that it was for five years and not ten years.

He said the Sharifs had claimed to bring one million supporters to welcome them but even one thousand people did not turn up. He said Shahbaz Sharif showed more maturity by deciding to stay back.

Chaudhry Shujaat said that how people of Pakistan could trust the Sharifs who had been telling lies to them for seven years that they had no agreement singed which freed them from prison sentence. Now he had landed in Saudi Arabia once again, he should live there seeking Allah’s mercy for remaining three years, he concluded.