LAHORE, Nov 27: The sudden return home on Tuesday of the wife and two daughters of former chief minister Shahbaz Sharif in less than a year after being exiled along with the rest of the Sharif family is being regarded by the government as violative of the agreement under which the Sharifs were sent to Saudi Arabia for a period of 10 years.

PML(N) leaders were taken aback by the development and various leaders are interpreting it differently.

Sources close to President Musharraf press secretary Maj-Gen Rashid Qureshi denied any government deal with the Sharifs. They told Dawn that Mrs Nusrat Shahbaz and her daughters’ return amounted to the breach of the agreement and the government would proceed against them in accordance with the law. However, they did not elaborate the kind of action likely to be taken.

Mrs Nusrat Shahbaz met her father at the latter’s Model Town residence where many other relatives were also present. Police kept the journalists away.

Family sources quoted Mrs Nusrat Shahbaz as saying that some other exiled family members could also come back in the near future.

It is said that Hamza Shahbaz met the Punjab home secretary and informed him about the return of his mother and sisters. No further details were available.

Top PML(N) leaders contacted by Dawn said they had not been informed beforehand by the Sharifs that such a development was in the offing.

“Their return to Lahore has no political significance”, a party leader said on the condition of anonymity.

He said the real issue was whether deposed prime minister Nawaz Sharif, his brother Shahbaz Sharif or Begum Kulsoom would also came back. Those who had come back were the ones who were sent as a part of deal and no role of their own in any issue, he argued, apparently playing down the matter. Former press secretary to Mian Shahbaz Sharif, who is in constant contact with him even in Saudi Arabia, said that Mrs Nusrat Shahbaz and her daughters had come permanently and had no plan to go back. Pakistan, he said, was their home and they were not required to go back. The Sharifs were banished to Saudi Arabia on Dec 10 last year under an agreement which binds the former ruling family to stay out of the country for at least a decade. Hamza Shahbaz was the only member kept back in Pakistan as a guarantee against millions of rupees in loans the Sharifs owed to various state institutions.

Abbas Sharif’s son, a student, had come to Pakistan a few months after the exile of the family and was arrested.

There have been reports that the Sharifs are setting up a huge steel mill in Saudi Arabia. Some people took these reports to mean that the Sharifs had given up the idea of returning to Pakistan.

The impression that the Sharifs would now permanently stay in the Kingdom was strengthened when Mian Shahbaz Sharif divorced Aliya Shahbaz as his wife. Shahbaz had married Aliya against the consent of his parents who had never recognized her as a part of their family.

The former chief minister had arranged a separate residence for her in Defence.

The divorce meant that Shahbaz Sharif was either unable or was not interested to take Aliya to Saudi Arabia.

Another PML(N) leader having close contacts with the Sharifs said Mrs Nusrat Shahbaz and her daughters might have come back to see Hamza.

He said the return of the three members might herald the coming back of the remaining Sharifs from the Saudi Kingdom. He said on a telephonic contact during the past two weeks the Sharifs had sounded very optimistic about the change in Pakistan’s situation. They had also claimed that they might return anytime.

In his opinion, the Musharraf government might be under pressure from some important countries to allow the Sharifs as well as Ms Benazir Bhutto to come back to Pakistan to prevent religious forces from dominating the political scene.

It may be pointed out that sources having access to the former chief minister have been claiming for quite some time that Mian Shahbaz Sharif could stage a comeback as surprisingly as he was made to leave the country along with the rest of the family members. They claim that the Musharraf government has rather a soft corner for Shahbaz Sharif.

It is, however, not clear whether Shahbaz Sharif may strike a deal with the government, ignoring his brother Nawaz Sharif.