LAHORE, Jan 26: The government has rejected as a "feeler" Pakistan Muslim League-N President Mian Shahbaz Sharif's announcement that he will return to Pakistan defying all restrictions.

However, some party sources claim that the former Punjab chief minister is "expected" to come back in the second fortnight of March, and is prepared to face any consequences.

The PML-N president had announced at a public meeting in London that he would not stay in exile any more and return to his country to play his role to steer the country out of crisis.

Party leaders are likely to be given instructions for mass mobilization during the next few weeks. Information Minister Sheikh Rashid Ahmed told Dawn that the Sharifs had left on their own and the government would have no objection to their returning home. However, he stressed that they would have to face the cases which had been shelved at the time of their banishment.

The minister would not say what else would the government do. "Let the time come and we'll make public our policy." He refused to answer the question whether the government would approach the Saudi authorities, who had helped the Sharifs leave the country and given them asylum in the kingdom, to stop the former chief minister from violating the agreement under which the Sharifs are supposed to stay out of the country for 10 years. Mr Sharif's plan to come to Pakistan at all costs, party sources say, shows a shift in the thinking of the former chief minister.