Pakistan's President Pervez Musharraf on Thursday said that former prime minister Nawaz Sharif can return home, just hours after the Supreme Court granted Sharif the permission to return to the country.

Musharraf was speaking to a gathering at the second programme of Aiwan-e-Sadr say (from the president's house), titled Jamhooriat, Siasat aur Elections (democracy, politics and elections) in Islamabad.

Musharraf said that Sharif had gone into exile by his own choice, as he wanted his jail term to be remitted. He said that the former prime minister, who had been convicted by a Pakistan court, had approached a friend to help him go into exile.

Sharif can lead his political party in the forthcoming general elections, said Musharraf, but added that the run up to the elections should be smooth and Pakistan should not witness any political destabilisation