The Comeback Artist.(World Affairs)

Byline: Ron Moreau; With Zahid Hussain In Islamabad

Nawaz Sharif used to be the most reviled man in Pakistan. Now he may become an unlikely hero.

He bravely fought terrorists, who twice tried to kill him. He had a strong authoritarian streak. He tried to crush the political opposition and turn Parliament into a rubber stamp. He attacked the Supreme Court and intimidated journalists. He frittered away the enormous popularity he once enjoyed. This sounds like the recent political career of Pakistani President Pervez Musharraf, but also describes the lamentable track record of former prime minister Nawaz Sharif. In a surprising turn of events, Sharif may return from exile in London this week to a hero's welcome. His aides hope to organize a rally of tens, if not hundreds, of thousands of his supporters for his arrival this week at the Islamabad airport.

Sharif met his political end during the second of his two terms as P.M., when he badly overplayed his weakening hand and tried to sack Musharraf, who was then (as he is now) the powerful Army chief of staff. The military revolted. Musharraf quickly overthrew Sharif in a bloodless coup in October 1999, sending him into exile -- good news to Pakistanis fed up with Sharif's autocratic ways. Now, as Musharraf's own popularity and power have plummeted, Sharif, 58, has seized the moment.

Musharraf and the president's men are scrambling to thwart his return, appealing to Saudi Arabia (which brokered the deal to get Sharif out of jail in 2000) to prevent the homecoming. The government could arrest him on recently reinstated corruption charges, or deport him immediately to Saudi Arabia. But Sharif says he's determined to come home. "[Musharraf's] tactics don't scare me anymore," he told NEWSWEEK. "We want to fight a decisive battle against dictatorship. Democracy has to win, dictatorship has to lose."

Sharif, certainly, could win if he returns. Musharraf's political party, the Pakistan Muslim League, is largely made up of defectors from Sharif's faction of the league. If they rally to Sharif, as analysts predict, he immediately becomes the front runner in the next parliamentary elections to be held later this year or early next year. "I have a gut feeling the political scales are tipped heavily ...