Exiled former Pakistani Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif could be arrested on his return, Pakistan's Attorney General Malik Muhammad Qayyum said on Friday.

 

Qayyum told reporters that Sharif's return was in violation of the undertaking to remain out of Pakistan for a period of 10 years, the state-run Associated Press of Pakistan (APP) news agency reported.

 

 

Former Prime Minister of Pakistan Nawaz Sharif smiles during an interview with Reuters in London, August 23, 2007. (Xinhua/Reuters Photo)

 

Asked if Nawaz Sharif and his family would be taken into custody at the airport on arrival, Qayyum said the government was examining all legal aspects of cases against them and it had not yet taken a decision about when and where to arrest them.

 

"If Nawaz Sharif abides by the undertaking and remains out of Pakistan until the expiry of the 10-year period in 2010 then the remissions will continue," Qayyum was quoted as saying by APP.

 

Pakistan's Supreme Court on Thursday ruled that Sharif could return to the country and take part in the forthcoming parliamentary elections.

 

Shortly after the Supreme Court issued the ruling, Sharif held a press conference in London on Thursday, announcing that he would soon come back to Pakistan and run for prime minister.

 

 

Ousted Pakistani prime minister Nawaz Sharif waves as he leaves an anti-terrorist court in Karachi in this Nov. 26, 1999 file photo. Pakistan's Supreme Court ruled on Aug. 23, 2007 that Sharif can return home after seven years in exile in a decision he hailed as a victory against dictatorship. (Xinhua/Reuters Photo)

 

President General Pervez Musharraf confirmed on Thursday that there was a dialogue going on with other political parties. "It is the need of time that there is political stability, political reconciliation and national consensus on issues confronting Pakistan," Musharraf said on Pakistan Television on Thursday.

 

Musharraf said earlier this month that former prime ministers Benazir Bhutto and Nawaz Sharif should not return home until after the forthcoming general elections in the country, according to local media reports.

 

Sharif served two nonconsecutive terms as Prime Minister of Pakistan. He is also the leader of Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N), which is one of the major opposition parties in the country.

 

He was arrested and sentenced to life imprisonment in 2000 on charges of hijacking and terrorism after General Pervez Musharraf staged a bloodless coup in the country. The Pakistani government agreed to commute his sentence from life in prison to exile in Saudi Arabia. His family moved with him.

 

(Xinhua News Agency August 25, 2007)