Nawaz Sharif, who was a premier of Pakistan from 1990 to 1993 and 1997 to 1999, was ousted in 1999 by then military chief General Pervez Musharraf, who expelled him from the country in 2000 together with his family after commuting his life jail sentence for crimes including corruption, hijacking and terrorism.

Sharif has lived since 2000 in Saudi Arabia and he was prevented to return to his country by Saudi authorities at the request of Pakistan.

The politician was deported to the Gulf state from Pakistan on September 10, hours after he landed at Islamabad airport to end seven years of exile.

Pakistan officials claim Sharif agreed to leave the country for ten years and avoid serving his prison term, but the opposition leader denied the deal. Sharif said he didn’t give his approval for a period on ten years and was assured that he would be allowed to return home after five years. His arrival sparked violent clashes between security forces and supporters of the Pakistan Muslim League-N.

Now the opposition leader is now being allowed back to register for the parliamentary elections set for January 8.

“Nawaz Sharif will reach Lahore tomorrow,” Ahsan Iqbal, a spokesman for Sharif's Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz party, said. “He will be accompanied by this brother, Shahbaz Sharif, and Kulsoom Nawaz, his wife.”'

According to the spokesman Sharif had a "farewell dinner" with Saudi Arabia's King Abdullah in Riyadh Friday.

Pakistan’s Supreme Court ruled out on Thursday the last challenge that was standing in the way of the re-election of Musharraf as president. This will allow him to drop his uniform and become a civilian president.

Musharraf is regarded by the U.S. as a great ally against Islamist militancy. He has been under a great amount of international pressure to drop the emergency rule and free the political prisoners.

Attorney General Malik Mohammad Qayyum said Friday the president was likely to take the oath of office on Wednesday.

"Chief Justice Abdul Hameed Dogar would administer the oath and before that General Musharraf would relinquish the spot of army chief," Qayyum told state-run Pakistan Television.

Media reports have speculated that Sharif’s comeback was secured under a deal with Musharraf, who is keen for PML-N not to boycott the polls and detract from their legitimacy.