Less than a month after packing off Nawaz Sharif to Jeddah on his brief return from exile, Pakistan President Pervez Musharraf on Wednesday expressed readiness to drop the cases pending against the deposed premier.

Musharraf, who is seeking re-election for a five-year term in the October six Presidential ballot, said he wanted to withdraw cases against Sharif as well as leaders of other political parties under the National Reconciliation Ordinance.

Sharif, the leader of opposition PML-N, landed at the Islamabad Airport on September 10 after seven years in exile only to be bundled into an aircraft to be deported to Jeddah in Saudi Arabia.

Musharraf’s comments in an interview to the private Geo TV came a day after another former Premier Benazir Bhutto, who lives in self-imposed exile in London and Dubai, was offered amnesty by the government over the corruption charges against her.

Replying to a question, the Pakistan President said “I am expecting I will be elected on October six. And I have the Constitutional right (to wear the uniform) till November 15. Let us see in the intervening period.” He had recently given an undertaking before the Supreme Court that he would shed uniform if re-elected.

When pressed to give a firm date for taking off the uniform, Musharraf said “well, one can’t comment. Everything I will decide after October six.”