ISLAMABAD, Pakistan — Pakistani military lore is obsessed with the romance of the daredevil commando, parachuting into hostile territory and taking the fight to the enemy despite daunting odds.

So it is, in a manner of speaking, with Pervez Musharraf, Pakistan’s onetime military ruler and a former commando, as he prepares to return from exile this Sunday, in the face of stiff and perhaps violent opposition, to marshal his fledgling political party for the general election on May 11.

After fours years living between London and Dubai, United Arab Emirates, Mr. Musharraf insists that he is going home, and he has said which flight he is to take into Karachi.

But until recently, many here were skeptical that Mr. Musharraf, 69, a retired general, was serious. He has promised to return from exile several times, only to change his mind at the last minute, citing a “bad environment.”