If former prime minister Nawaz Sharif succeeds in flying back to Pakistan on Monday after nearly seven years in exile, it could well mark the beginning of one of the most sensational political comebacks in history.
Sharif led the country twice in the 1990s, but was forced out of power, imprisoned and then exiled after he attempted, in a characteristically reckless move, to get rid of his army chief, Pervez Musharraf, in October 1999.
Even though it was Sharif who had earlier promoted General Musharraf out of turn, their relationship quickly soured as the politician manipulated to gain control over the army.
Not for the first time in Pakistan's history had a favoured general turned against his civilian patron. Things came to a head in 1999 when, under US pressure, Sharif forced General Musharraf to pull back his troops and surrender territory seized from India during the Kargil war in Kashmir.
General Musharraf was livid. But instead of mending fences, Sharif, naive and impulsive, decided to teach the recalcitrant general a lesson.
Pakistan's democratically elected leader was already running out of control - he had turned megalomaniacal after becoming prime minister for a second time in 1997 with an absolute majority in parliament, and was busy cutting down opponents, appropriating power and ruling like an autocrat. He had the constitution amended to deny the nation's president the authority to dismiss the prime minister. He got a law passed that made it impossible for his party legislators to defy his edicts.
