Pakistan’s supreme court on Thursday cleared the way for former prime minister Nawaz Sharif to return from exile, striking another severe blow to General Pervez Musharraf, the country’s embattled US-backed military ruler.

The verdict sets the stage for a potentially spectacular comeback for a politician whose career seemed to have come to an ignominious end when he was ousted by Mr Musharraf’s 1999 October coup amid widespread anger at rampant corruption.