A protection detail of heavily armed commandos met him after his plane from Dubai touched down in Karachi airport. A mass rally in the city was cancelled.
General Musharraf plans to lead his party in the May general election.
Meanwhile, 17 soldiers were killed by a suicide bomber in the north-west of Pakistan overnight.
They were attacked at a security checkpoint in the tribal region of North Waziristan, close to the Afghan border and a known stronghold of the Taliban and al-Qaeda-linked militants.
A recent Taliban video threatened Gen Musharraf with snipers and suicide bombers.
He faces a string of charges including conspiracy to murder, but on Friday the Pakistani authorities granted him protective bail in several outstanding cases, freeing him from immediate arrest once he sets foot in Pakistan.
One of the charges is that he failed to provide adequate security for opposition leader Benazir Bhutto after she returned from exile in 2007.
Two deadly explosions, in which nearly 140 people died, greeted her arrival in Karachi on 19 October. She was killed that December at a rally in Rawalpindi.
A few hundred supporters have gathered near the airport.
Earlier, the former leader, 69, tweeted a photo of himself aboard the plane, writing: "Settled in my seat on the plane to begin my journey home. Pakistan First!"
In Dubai, the smiling general told our correspondent the event felt like a wedding party.
A group of about 200 supporters and journalists saw off the former military ruler - including party members from the UK, Canada, Switzerland and the US.
Some of the general's supporters wore white armbands saying they were ready to give their lives for him.
The planned mass rally in Karachi was called off because the authorities had withdrawn permission.
The former military leader has lived in London and Dubai since stepping down five years ago. He left Pakistan in 2009.
He has vowed to return several times in the past, but those previous attempts have been abandoned.
Source: BBC News
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