Pontis's Ristorante on Duke Street is famous for its waffles. Right next to it is another busy destination: Mansion No 10 of “Mian Sahib”.

As peak-hour morning sets in outside, a flock of people arrive in formals and immediately begin sorting out faxes, preparing files and charting out appointments for the day. “Mian Sahib will be reaching very soon,” says one of them. The wait takes longer and it’s close to noon that former Pakistan prime minister Nawaz Sharif, in a tan brown suit, walks into his office. He shakes hands with everyone, chats briefly with each guest, a broad smile intact.

In four days, Sharif will be heading back to Pakistan after a long exile.

“Bas taiyari hai, aap dua karte rahein,” he tells an elderly couple, who have traveled all the way from Lahore to see him, and encourage him to return, despite the warnings that he will be arrested.

Behind Sharif’s chair is a big Pakistan flag and opposite to it is a giant TV screen that shows a Pakistani news channel.

There’s a long queue of people waiting to see him, and each one of them is popped a question: “Are you a friend or a supporter?”

Historian Patrick French is amused to find that Sharif’s supporters and party officials have cramped up the office, outnumbering the sofa seats, and the temporary plastic chairs that were being pressed into service. French is working on a book, a “sort of political history” of Pakistan, and wants an appointment. “There might be some sort of mangled form of democracy returning there,” he says.

... contd.