LAHORE, April 22: PML-N President Shahbaz Sharif will return to Pakistan any time before May 10, ending his exile of four years. Mr Sharif announced at the end of four-day consultations with party elders at London on Thursday that he would be with his people before May 10.

"Keeping in view recommendations of the consultative meeting, good wishes of general public in Pakistan, and the wish of party workers, I have decided to return before May 10," he told participants of the meeting. He added it was difficult for him now to wait any longer.

He said a dictatorship had enslaved the nation, depriving it of its freedom, self-respect, economic justice and peace. The nation was facing unemployment, exploitation and oppression and he could not remain away from his motherland at this time of crisis, he said.

"I will live and die with my nation.... and restoring self-respect of our nation is our duty," the PML-N leader said. He said the Muslim League had shown the way to freedom and protection to disheartened and dissociated Muslims of the sub- continent 56 years ago and had carved out a new homeland for them.

The party was ready to steer the nation out of the sea of disappointment it was in and push it to the destination of independence and grandeur, he added. The meeting, held under the chairmanship of Mr Sharif, was attended by Chaudhry Nisar Ali Khan, Sardar Zulfikar Khosa, Senator Ishaq Dar, Zafar Iqbal Jhagra, Ghous Ali Shah, Khwaja Saad Rafiq, Pir Binyamin Rizvi, Khwaja Asif, Imdad Chandio, Ijaz Shafee, Farrukh Shah and others.

Meanwhile, Shahbaz Sharif Secretariat's chief organizer Bodi Pehalwan, Nasir Khan Nasri and Mian Khalid Jameel were released from the Camp Jail after an anti-terror court granted them bail on Thursday. The three had been arrested after they protested against sentencing of PML-N acting president Javed Hashmi for 23 years in jail in a treason case.