LAHORE: Negating all rumours, Leader of the Opposition in the National Assembly and Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) president Shahbaz Sharif returned home on Sunday morning af ter a seven-week visit to UK.

He had gone to London on April 10 for his medical check-up. His visit followed months of silence on the front of Nawaz Sharif and Maryam Nawaz. It was being dubbed a result of a `deal` between the PML-N and the powers that be.

Shahbaz Sharif flew in aboard a Pakistan International Airlines flight. Party workers welcomed him at the airport amid tight secu-rity and showered flower petals on him. At least 300 policemen were deployed at the airport, where the party workers also scuffled with the security staff to enter the airport building.

Prominent among the leaders who received the opposition leader were Ahsan Iqbal, Amir Muqam, Pervaiz Malik, Shaista Malik, Ali Pervaiz Malik, Khwaja Imran Nazeer, Azma Zahid Bukhari, Waheed Gul, Tauseef Shah and Suhail Shaukat Butt.

From the airport Mr Sharif went to his Model Town residence where workers distributed sweets. He then left for Jati Umra, where he offered Fateha at the graves of his father Mian Sharif, brother Abbas Sharif and sister-in-law Kulsoom Nawaz and met his mother Begum Shamim and Maryam Nawaz.

A war of words between leaders of the PML-N and the ruling Pakistan Tehreek-i-Insaf ensued on his arrival.Taking to Twitter, PML-N spokesperson Marriyum Aurangzeb said that as Shahbaz Sharif had landed in Pakistan it was now time for Prime Minister Imran Khan to get worried. She taunted that Mr Khan hid himself in the mountains a reference to the prime minister`s prolonged stay in Nathia Gali since Eid on reports of Mr Sharif`s arrival.

Special Assistant to the Prime Minister on Information Dr Firdous Ashig Awan said Shahbaz Sharif had arrived in Pakistan `af ter converting a two-week relief to a two-month holiday`. She said the opposition leader wandered the London streets in order to get an NRO-like deal, adding that his fast pace suggested that he had no health issues.

Taking a jibe at the `escape` of Shahbaz Sharif`s relatives and the former finance minister from accountability, Punjab government`s spokesperson Shahbaz Gill said the legal requirement would have been fulfilled had Mr Sharif brought his son (Suleman), son-inlaw (Ali Imran) and Ishaq Dar with him.

PML-N Punjab president Rana Sanaullah responded that Ms Awan should focus on the slogan of `go Imran go` and that after Mr Shahbaz`s arrival, she should prepare Imran Khan to respond to the opposition leaders` questions on economy and other national matters.Shahbaz Sharif is scheduled to appear on June 11 before an accountability court in Lahore seized with the Ashiyana Housing Scheme and Ramzan Sugar Mills cases. However, he will be in Islamabad on Monday (today) to chair a meeting of the party`s parliamentary advisory group and will also head a sitting of the PMLN`s Economic Advisory Council on June 12 a day after the presentation of the federal budget to chalk out a strategy pertaining to the supposedly `anti-masses` budget.

Shahbaz Sharif apparently discussed with party vice presidentMaryam the opposition`s multiparty conference likely to be held soon. But he had not yet scheduled his any activity or meeting in this respect.

Interestingly, his arrival has led to some sort of confusion about the PML-N narrative not only among the party cadre but also the opposition parties.

Since re-imprisonment of PML-N supremo Nawaz Sharif, his daughter Maryam has been building a narrative of resistance mostly through her messages on social media. She and other party leaders have been hinting at taking to streets, particularly on theissue of references filed against a couple of superior court judges.

However, before his departure for the homeland, Shahbaz Sharif had told the media at Heathrow Airport that the PML-N would launch a protest inside parliament.

The party cadre is confused whether to side with Shahbaz Sharif or his niece Maryam in case of a clash between the narratives of the two as there`s general impression, which has never been denied by the PML-N president, that he believes in `amiable coexistence with the establishment`.

Through unnamed sources it was being fed to the media that NawazSharif had directed his daughter to attend the opposition MPC, while she is also making preparations to run the party`s affairs in her on manner from its Model Town of fice soon.

Background interviews suggest that the opposition parties are also wary of Shahbaz Sharif`s homecoming at a time when Maryam is preparing the PML-N for a resistance movement.

`We`re cautious about the move for we fear that our shoulders may be used by the PML-N to win some relief from the government,` a senior PPP leader confided to this reporter.