LAHORE, April 19: Top PML-N leaders at a meeting with Mian Shahbaz Sharif in London on Monday, advised the party president to return to Pakistan at the earliest, ignoring the 10-year exile accord the government says the Sharifs had signed before leaving for Saudi Arabia some 40 months back.

The leaders had been invited by Mian Shahbaz for consultations on the issue. More discussions would be held on Tuesday on the date and modalities if Mian Shahbaz decides to return home. The PML-N chief's spokesman Farrukh Shah and MNA Khwaja Saad Rafiq told Dawn by phone from London that a date for Mian Shahbaz's return would be set by former prime minister Mian Nawaz Sharif.

Other party sources said that the government was using diplomatic channels to pressurize the former chief minister of Punjab not to return to Pakistan. However, it is not clear to what extent the pressure would work.

Despite claims to the contrary, Mian Shahbaz was initially reluctant to come back for fear of being arrested on the basis of a police shooting he allegedly ordered in 1998 as the provincial chief executive. But, party sources say, now he appears to have changed his mind, encouraged by a recent judgment of the Supreme Court.

Most of the PML-N leaders insist that the apex court has allowed the exiled leader to return to the country, although the government lawyers interpret the verdict differently. "The time for Mian Shahbaz Sharif's return has come. It's not a matter of weeks. The decision will be announced in a few days," said Khwaja Saad.