FAISALABAD, May 5: The local leaders of the PML-N have either gone underground or confined their activities to reduce risk of their arrest before the expected return of party president Shahbaz Sharif.

The PML-N sources claimed on Wednesday that the party's high command had directed the district and city organizations in the Punjab not to hold functions openly and motivate the activists through closed-door meetings.

The party leaders, they said, were running from pillar to post to get transports for their activists and workers so that they could reach the Lahore Airport on May 11 to welcome the former chief minister, Shahbaz Sharif, after four years of his exile.

Meanwhile, Rana Sanaullah Khan, deputy opposition leader in the Punjab Assembly, claimed to have finalized arrangements for giving a befitting reception to Mr Sharif in Lahore. He said the party's regional and tehsil organizations had been asked to bring maximum activists and party workers at the Lahore Airport.

He said the rulers were reluctant to allow Mr Sharif to return because their days were numbered in the government. "The PML-N is the only league, which has deep roots among the people of the country and a team of neat and clean politicians," he added.

He described the unification of some PML groups as farcical, and said these politicians would fight after the return of the PML-N chief. He also criticized the raids conducted by the police on the houses and offices of PML-N activists, and their detention.

PML-N City President Khawaja Muhammad Islam claimed that he would reach Lahore with 1,000 buses, wagons, cars and other vehicles on the return of the party chief. Mr Islam, an MPA, said the government and the Sharif family had not struck any deal and the plan of Mr Sharif's return was finalized after the apex court's verdict.