‘Nawaz brother Pak pawn for smooth ride’

It can well be one of the options the regime has been weighing to make all ends meet in the pre- and post-election scenario, it said.

‘‘The Shahbaz return plan’’ has gone beyond the rumours and serious groundwork was on to expedite his return, sources close to Nawaz’s Pakistan Muslim League (PML) said.

‘‘Well, I wish to come back to Pakistan. I am ready to return provided there is no impediment in the whole process. I wish to be where I belong, and it is my right for I have done nothing wrong. Rather I served the people with sincerity,’’ Shahbaz told the newspaper.

However, he did not confirm any contact made at any level by or on behalf of the government. Though no evident efforts on the part of the government were underway, direct and indirect ‘‘Track-II Rendezvous’’ between the establishment and Shahbaz could be smelt from the chain of events taking place in recent weeks, it said.

Meanwhile, rejecting the government’s proposed constitutional amendments, the Alliance for Restoration of Democracy (ARD) said the forthcoming elections will be used to put in place a ‘‘showpiece’’ Parliament and insisted on a caretaker national consensus government to ensure free and fair polls.

‘‘In presence of proposed amendments, power won’t be transferred to elected representatives but to a Parliament which will neither be independent nor sovereign,’’ ARD chief Nawabzada Nasrullah Khan said.