Military ruler Musharraf expelled Sharif and his family from Pakistan in 2000, a year after toppling him from power. The Sharifs went to live in Saudi Arabia and London.

"The court should order the government not to directly or indirectly obstruct, hamper or resist Nawaz Sharif and his family members ... to return to their country or force them to live in continued exile," the petition said.

The appeal comes after Sharif and another former premier, Benazir Bhutto -- who is living in self-imposed exile due to corruption charges -- both said they would return to Pakistan for elections that are due by early next year.

Sharif still officially heads his faction of the conservative Pakistan Muslim League party from exile, while Benazir Bhutto is the leader of the centrist Pakistan People's Party.

It also follows the July 20 reinstatement by the Supreme Court of Pakistan's top judge after Musharraf suspended him in March, in a move seen as a political blow to the president and an assertion of the judiciary's independence.

"We are filing this petition as our confidence in the judiciary has now been fully restored," Pakistan Muslim League lawmaker Khawaja Mohammad Asif, who filed the petition on Sharif's behalf, told reporters outside the court.

The petition also called for the court to end the exile of Sharif's brother, Shabaz, former chief minister of Punjab.

The Sharifs had a "fundamental right" to return to the country as Pakistani citizens, Asif said.