The Pakistan government is reportedly prepared to consider a conditional amnesty for the family of deposed Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif to return from their exile.

A blueprint of modalities to facilitate such an arrangement acceptable to all stakeholders is being worked out, The News daily quoted an official as saying on Thursday. A decision pertaining to the return of the Sharifs as a business family instead of a political one could be possible in a couple of weeks, he said.

A new formula is reportedly being hammered out that would enshrine a voluntary undertaking by the Sharif family for not taking part in political activities in any form after their return to the country for a period to be specified later. For such an arrangement, the Sharifs will have to provide unimpeachable guarantees acceptable to the government.

In that case, the Sharif family would not only be allowed to return to Pakistan but will be permitted to undertake their normal business activities, the official said.

"No bias will be coming in their way when they will be transacting their business after coming back and fulfilling the conditions," he said. The official pointed out that the whole exercise would be carried out without compromising the respect of the members of the Sharif family, who have been looking for a return to the country.

This development comes after reports that the government has now abandoned talks with another former prime minister Benazir Bhutto to work out a political rapprochement.

Sharif, his brother Shabaz and their family members have been exiled to Jeddah in Saudi Arabia in 2000. Last year Sharifs moved to London to carry out their political activities.

The official said the Sharif family, which currently lives in London, have maintained their contacts with the Pakistan government through interlocutors, though both sides have vehemently denied it publicly.

A retired army officer, who stays in London but frequently visits Pakistan, is reportedly playing an active role in the new arrangement underway. When President Pervez Musharraf visited Britain last October, he had dinner with the retired officer on the outskirts of London, where some other people were also present.

It was proposed at one stage that the government should ban the Sharif family from taking part in politics through a legislation like in the early 1960s when the then military government had barred some political leaders for a specific period. The government, however, was reluctant to agree to such a proposal since it could harm its image.