Former Pakistan prime minister Nawaz Sharif is set to return to Pakistan within days, an aide said today.
Mr Sharif was due to meet Saudi Arabia's King Abdullah today in Riyadh, just days after Gen Musharraf paid a surprise visit to the monarch amid speculation he was reaching out to his opponent to shore up his support base ahead of a January 8th election.
But it was not clear whether Mr Sharif, deposed by Gen Musharraf in a bloodless 1999 coup, would get back to Pakistan before November 26th, the last date for filing election nominations, and so be able to run for parliament.
A spokesman for Mr Sharif's party, said he was expected to return "within four or five days".
Gen Musharraf imposed a two-term limit on the prime ministership in 2002, which bars both Mr Sharif and opposition leader Benazir Bhutto from another term.