Sharif brothers determined to return home: Aitzaz Ahsan

Pakistans leading barrister and PPP leader Aitzaz Ahsan has said that former Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif and his brother Shahbaz Sharif are determined to return home at the earliest.

London, Aug 28 : Pakistan's leading barrister and PPP leader Aitzaz Ahsan has said that former Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif and his brother Shahbaz Sharif are determined to return home at the earliest.

Ahsan, who met the Sharif brothers, which was termed as a courtesy call, said that the Supreme Court verdict in their favour has paved the way for the PML (N) leaders' return to Pakistan.

"They have to (return home), after the Supreme Court verdict. If they had no intention of going back then they should not have gone to the courts, and I think they would not have if that is what they had intended to do," the Dawn quoted him, as saying.

"If they ask me, I will tell them to return home at the earliest. There is so much of political space waiting for them at this juncture," he added.

Ahsan, the lead lawyer of the team, which successfully defended Chief Justice Iftikhar Mohammad Chaudhry in the apex court against his dismissal by President Pervez Musharraf, said since it was a social call, there was no political angle to his meeting with Nawaz.

However, the PPP leader added: "Of course, we discussed the current political situation in the country. He had his own perspective about it and I had mine. We also talked about the historic CJ case and the one which ended recently with the Supreme Court ruling that there was no bar against the return home of the Sharif family."

Responding to a query if he was thinking of leaving the party if a power-sharing deal is inked between Benazir and Musharraf, Ahsan said he could never think of such a thing.

"I belong to the PPP, it is my party. We have travelled a long distance through good times and bad times. So, why would I be tempted at this juncture to leave the party?" he said.

ANI