Nawaz Sharif, the deposed Pakistani leader, will attempt a dramatic homecoming today when he is due to fly into Islamabad hoping to dethrone his arch rival, President Pervez Musharraf.

In a daring but risky move, Mr Sharif took off from Heathrow last night in a plane bound for the Pakistani capital, where the military was already preparing to greet him and his entourage of aides and journalists.

In preparation for the ending of Mr Sharif’s seven-year exile, the authorities tightened security at Islamabad airport. They also banned rallies and rounded up 2,000 of Mr Sharif’s supporters, mostly in his powerbase in Punjab province.

Last night before boarding the Pakistan Airlines flight, Mr Sharif told reporters that he was excited to be returning home. Asked what kind of reception he expected, he said: “I have a mission that is much more important than any reception. My mission is to restore democracy in the country and restore the rule of law. It is a noble mission.”

Bhutto was killed by bomb blast

The team from the Metropolitan Police’s Counter Terrorism Command have backed the claim that Benazir Bhutto was not shot

Multimedia

• Pictures: death of Benazir Bhutto

• Pictures: Pakistan

BACKGROUND

• Pakistan in turmoil as ‘martial law’ imposed

• Bhutto escapes as bombers kill 126

• Timeline: Pakistan's period of turmoil

• The man out to oust a President

• Internal crisis gives Pakistan reason for hope

The moment he sets foot on his home soil, Mr Sharif faces being deported again or arrested. But in a press conference before going home he remained defiant. “I will go back to Pakistan on September 10 with my brother because my country needs me,” he told reporters at the weekend from his home in Mayfair. “I am going to lead the people of Pakistan against the dictatorship, and the dictator sitting in Islamabad should give up his futile efforts to stop me.”

Mr Sharif may be encouraged in his mission by the events that led to his own demise in 1999 when he was overthrown as Prime Minister in a military coup. Then, he was the leader who tried to block an aircraft carrying General Musharraf from landing in Pakistan. The attempt backfired. Mr Sharif was arrested, convicted of corruption and sentenced to life imprisonment for hijacking — a charge relating to his failed attempts to block General Musharraf’s plane.

Mr Sharif, 57, was freed and sent into exile in Saudi Arabia on the understanding that he would stay out of Pakistan for ten years. The Pakistani authorities have appealed to him to respect that agreement, which was brokered by the Saudi authorities and Rafik Hariri, the late Lebanese Prime Minister. The call was reinforced at the weekend by Muqrin bin Abdul Aziz, the Saudi intelligence chief, and Hariri’s son, Saad.

“We are hoping, we are really hoping, sincerely hoping, His Excellency Nawaz Sharif honours this agreement,” Mr Muqrin said.

But Mr Sharif is adamant that the law is on his side — a point underscored by the Pakistani Supreme Court, which ruled last month that Mr Sharif had the right to return. Of greater consequence than the legal arguments are the political realities in Pakistan. General Musharraf is seeking another five-year term as President in elections by an electoral college that would need to vote between September 15 and October 15. But he is perceived as weak and vulnerable.

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