The Pakistan government has decided to reopen corruption cases against former prime minister Nawaz Sharif close on the heels of the Supreme Court taking up his petition seeking an end to his exile.

The National Accountability Bureau, the premier anti-graft body established by President Pervez Musharraf [Images], has moved an application in an accountability court of Rawalpindi asking the proceeding of three cases to be reopened on August 15, officials were quoted as saying by Daily Times newspaper.

The three references against Sharif which would be reopened are the Hudaybia Paper Mills case filed in 2002, the Raiwind Property case and the Ittefaq Foundry case.

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NAB deputy prosecutor Zulfiqar Bhutta refused to comment on the cases.

The Supreme Court has fixed August 16 for the hearing of a petition filed by Nawaz Sharif and his brother Shahbaz Sharif seeking their return to Pakistan, seven years after Musharraf forced them out of the country after a coup.

Sharif, who resided in London [Images], said he wanted to return to Pakistan as soon as possible but was waiting for the Supreme Court's decision on his petition.

Sharif arrived in Dubai on Friday and will stay there for three to four days before returning to London.

Geo TV reported that Sharif did not comment on the current political situation in Pakistan, but said that the nation would soon hear good news.