'Sharif to return after understanding with Musharraf'

ISLAMABAD: Former Pakistani premier Nawaz Sharif came to an "understanding" with senior officials ahead of his planned return on Sunday from exile, an informed government source told.   

Sharif met Pakistani intelligence chief Lieutenant General Nadeem Taj and a close aide to Musharraf in Saudi Arabia where the former premier has been living in exile for the past seven years.   

The meeting followed Musharraf's own talks there with Saudi King Abdullah, which a Pakistani official said included the issue of Sharif's return.   

"He is returning under some understanding and we hope he sticks to it," a senior federal government official told.   

"He must go by the rules and not indulge in confrontationalist politics."   

The two-time former premier is due to land in the eastern city of Lahore on Sunday afternoon on board a Saudi royal plane, his party said earlier.   

A government official in Punjab province, of which Lahore is the capital, urged Sharif's party not to organise a mass welcome home rally "because of the current threat of suicide bombings and the law and order situation."   

Twin bombings hit the homecoming parade of another former premier, Benazir Bhutto, on October 18 in the southern port city of Karachi, killing 139 people and wounding more than 300. She narrowly escaped.   

Sharif was deported from Pakistan in September this year back to Saudi Arabia when he tried to return, despite a Pakistan court verdict allowing him to live in his homeland.

He was banished to Saudi Arabia in December 2000 a year after Musharraf toppled his government.