Former Pakistan Premier Nawaz Sharif returned from exile on Monday, dramatically escalating the political crisis facing President Pervez Musharraf ahead of crucial elections.
The country has been in turmoil since Musharraf, who ousted Sharif in a 1999 coup, tried to sack Pakistan's Chief Justice in March, sparking mass protests. Here is a chronology of events:
March 9: Musharraf asks Chief Justice Iftikhar Muhammad Chaudhry to resign over allegations of misconduct. Chaudhry refuses.
March 10-12: Lawyers hold nationwide protests, the first in a series of demonstrations across the country.
March 16: Police fire rubber bullets and tear gas at thousands of opposition supporters in Islamabad and smash up studios of a private television station.
March 26: First joint protests organised by the parties of exiled former prime ministers Benazir Bhutto and Nawaz Sharif.
May 5-6: Thousands cheer Chaudhry's motorcade from Islamabad to Lahore, where he declares to a huge crowd that the "era of dictatorship is over." Similar trips to other cities follow in May and June.
May 12-13: Forty-three people killed after government supporters prevent Chaudhry from attending a rally in the southern port city of Karachi. Strikes called afterwards paralyse much of the country.
June 4: Musharraf imposes tough new rules on broadcasters, sparking protests by journalists. Musharraf lifts the clampdown three days later.
July 3-10: Pakistani troops besiege the pro-Taliban Red Mosque in Islamabad, then storm the building a week later. More than 100 people die during the course of the crisis.
July 17: Suicide bomber kills 17 at a rally by Chaudhry in Islamabad, one of around a dozen suicide blasts sparked by the Red Mosque showdown.
July 20: Supreme Court reinstates Chaudhry and quashes the charges against him.
Bhutto and Musharraf hold secret meeting in Abu Dhabi on a possible power-sharing deal to sideline Sharif.
August 9: Musharraf decides against imposing state of emergency nationwide following pressure from Washington.
Aug 23: Supreme Court rules Sharif can return from exile.
Aug 30: Sharif announces he will return to Pakistan on September 10.
Sept 1: Bhutto says she has not reached a deal with Musharraf and that she will announce a date for her return to Pakistan on September 14.
Sept 5: Bhutto calls for meeting with Musharraf after talks restart.
Sept 7: Court orders arrest of Sharif's brother Shahbaz on murder charges. Government asks another court to grant arrest warrant for Nawaz on corruption charges.
Sept 8: Saad Hariri, son of assassinated former Lebanese premier Rafiq Hariri, and Saudi intelligence chief Muqrin bin Abdul Aziz say Sharif must honour deal that sent him into exile seven years ago, and stay out of the country until 2010.
Police arrest hundreds of Sharif's supporters.
Sept 10: Sharif's arrested on arrival at Islamabad airport.
