Like a Shakespearean tragedy, the final chapter of General Pervez Musharraf’s reign began with an echo of the original sin of its first pages: the October 1999 coup by which he overthrew Nawaz Sharif, the democratically elected Prime Minister. Sharif’s highly publicized return from exile on Sept. 10 lasted just four hours; Musharraf had him deported again. But if the general’s first expulsion of Sharif–then an unloved head of an inept and corrupt government–brought Musharraf to power amid widespread acclaim, the second may well hasten the President’s downfall. Aryn Baker (’01) reports for TIME.

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Photograph by Stephanie Sinclair for TIME