'Can anyone stop him from coming back?': Senate weighs in on Musharraf's return to Pakistan.

A day after PML-N supremo Nawaz Sharif called on the government to facilitate the return of the ailing former military dictator Pervez Musharraf to Pakistan, senators - both from the opposition and the ruling coalition - weighed in on whether the ex-president should be allowed to come back.

The retired general had been hospitalised for the past few weeks. He was suffering from amyloidosis, a rare disease in which an abnormal protein called amyloid builds up in organs and tissues throughout the body.

Since news of his frail condition was reported, PML-N bigwigs have signalled their willingness to allow his return.

During a sitting of the upper house of the parliament today (Wednesday), PPP senator and former prime minister Yousaf Raza Gillani raised a question: "Were you able to stop him when he was leaving (the country)? Will you be able to stop him from returning?"

"These decisions will not be taken by us ... they will be taken somewhere else," he said.

When Musharraf was still in Pakistan, the senator went on, "I had forgiven him". "If Pervez Musharraf wants to come back, he can. Pakistan is his home," Gillani said, continuing that he had no issues with the former dictator's return.

"But everyone should be treated equally," he added.

Late Tuesday night, Nawaz Sharif had tweeted that he had no "personal enmity or animosity" towards Musharraf, saying that he didn't want anyone else to suffer the traumas had had to endure for his loved ones.

His statement came after the Pakistan Army confirmed that Musharraf's family was in contact with the military regarding his mooted return to Pakistan. Inter-Services Public Relations Director General Major General Babar Iftikhar said that the former dictator's return to Pakistan from UAE was a decision for his family and doctors to make.

"The institution and its leadership have the stance that he should come back," he added.

Read more: There should be no obstacle in Musharraf returning, says Khawaja Asif

Today's Senate session, however, reflected a divide among politicians over Musharraf's return.

'Our hands are tied'

Opening the topic for debate, Jamaat-i-Islami senator Mushtaq Ahmad Khan recalled that the Constitution of Pakistan had been victim to several injustices. "We are handicapped. Our hands and feet have been tied. We are just slaves."

JI leader Mushtaq Ahmad Khan - DawnNewsTV

Musharraf, he said, had been the "master of black and white" for 10 years. "He broke the...