Pakistan's Sharif says to return, contest election

LONDON, Aug 23 (Reuters) Pakistan's exiled former prime minister Nawaz Sharif said today he intended to return to Pakistan ''as soon as possible'' and contest elections to try to oust President Pervez Musharraf from office.

''It is the beginning of the end of Musharraf,'' Sharif told a news conference in London.

Pakistan's Supreme Court ruled earlier today that Sharif, 57, could return home after seven years in exile. Sharif, a two-time prime minister, was overthrown by army chief Musharraf in a 1999 coup.

REUTERS AM HS1925