LAHORE, April 28: The Saudi government is being kept abreast of Mian Shahbaz Sharif's plan to return home, PML-N chairman Raja Zafarul Haq said at a news conference here on Wednesday, after a meeting of the party's central working committee.

The CWC discussed all possible situations which may arise when the former chief minister lands at Lahore Airport. However, it left it to Mian Shahbaz to finalize, during the next couple of days, a date for his return in consultation with his elder brother Mian Nawaz Sharif.

The PML-N chairman said the Saudi government had extended 'unbelievable hospitality and protocol' to the Sharif family and thus the Sharifs were under a 'moral obligation' to keep the hosts informed of their future plans. "And they are being kept posted".

The party's acting president Chaudhry Nisar Ali Khan said that the date and flight for Mr Shahbaz's return had already been decided at the 'top level' but, since the party was at 'a war of nerves' with the government, the date was not being announced immediately. He made it clear that the PML-N president would be back home before May 10, as already announced.

When a reporter pointed out that some believed Mian Shahbaz did not have the backing of Mian Nawaz Sharif for his plans, the PML-N chairman said that such people did not know the culture of the Sharif family.

He said opponents of Mian Shahbaz's return to Pakistan were propagating that the former chief minister was trying to strike a deal with the government. About reports that Pakistan was urging the Saudi authorities to block Mr Shahbaz's plan to come back, Raja Zafarul Haq said it indicated that the government was the weakest the country ever had.

He said that the government's attitude and the situation at the time of Mian Shahbaz's return would determine the nature and scope of welcome to be accorded to him. Chaudhry Nisar said the former chief minister was more interested in landing in his country than in the number of people turning up to receive him.

Begum Tehmina Daultana, who hosted the CWC meeting, said that ARD parties were also interested in receiving the former chief minister. According to insiders, some of the participants were furious over the meeting's failure to set a date for Mian Shahbaz's return.

They said it would not be possible for them to face the people in their constituencies who wanted to know whether and when the former chief minister would come back. At least one leader proposed that Mian Shahbaz should be contacted by phone and asked about the date.

Chaudhry Nisar told the participants that they should make all arrangements by May 3 to receive their leader. Thereafter, he said, they could be given a call any time to reach the Lahore Airport.

A resolution adopted at the meeting welcomed the Supreme Court's judgment on Mian Shahbaz's return and warned the government of serious consequences if the former chief minister was arrested or deported on landing in Lahore.

It said that cases against Mian Shahbaz were baseless and he should be given an opportunity to defend himself in an open court. The participants reiterated their confidence in the leadership of Mian Nawaz Sharif and called upon the government to issue him a passport so that he could come back to Pakistan and play his role in national politics.