Washington, July 10 : In a bid to avoid facing any more embarrassment over his party’s long pending demand of restoration of sacked judges’ issue, PML-N leader Nawaz Sharif, currently in London, is not likely to return to Pakistan “any time soon”.

Nawaz who is currently in London to see his ailing his wife, who is recovering from surgery, has plans to visit the US later this month on a “private visit”.

The implications of this absence for the continuing political impasse on the judges’ issue will become manifest in the coming days, reported the Daily Times.

An informed source in London said that even as the PPP doesn’t seem to relent to PML-N’s demand of judges’ restoration demand, pressure from within the PML-N is mounting for rejoining the federal government. If the PML-N decides to quit the alliance and take to the opposition benches, its government in the Punjab will find it hard to survive, a risk the party is reluctant to take, added the paper.

The PPP is ready for a compromise on the judges’ issue is restore the judges with the exception of chief justice Iftikhar Muhammad Chaudhry, accompanied by the retention of the post-November 3 judges, possibly in ad hoc positions. (ANI)