Musharraf ends self-exile, returns to Pakistan ahead of polls

Mangaloretoday/NDTV

Karachi, March 24: Amid threats by the Taliban to kill him, Pakistan’s former president Pervez Musharraf made a homecoming today, ending a long self-exile to lead his party in the general elections less than two months away.

"Thrilled to be back home. Meeting with APML office bearers and workers. Pakistan First!" Mr Musharraf tweeted after flying down to Karachi from Dubai.

 

The Associated Press reported that security forces had whisked away Mr Musharraf in a convoy of about a dozen vehicles from the Karachi airport, not allowing him to greet hundreds of his All-Pakistan Muslim League party supporters waiting there. Security at the airport was tight.

Officials also cancelled his media conference planned at the airport and withdrew permission for a rally near the mausoleum of Pakistan’s founder Muhammad Ali Jinnah this evening.

Sindh police spokesman Imran Shaukat told the Press Trust of India that Mr Musharraf’s party had been informed that the rally was being disallowed because of "serious security threats" to the former president, and the party had "agreed to cancel" the event.

Mr Musharraf faces a death threat from the Tehrik-e-Taliban Pakistan, which has vowed to send suicide bombers and snipers to kill him. His security will be a big challenge for Pakistan’s security forces.

The former military ruler has dismissed the Taliban’s warning. "I am going home as announced. I am not scared of anything - be it the death threat from terrorists or arrest on arrival," Mr Musharraf told supporters in Dubai yesterday.

Today, before leaving his luxury flat in Dubai for the airport, he kissed his 94-year-old mother goodbye.

Mr Musharraf, who is 69, has been on self-exile for over four years. He faces several cases in Pakistan, including the assassination of former prime minister Benazir Bhutto in 2007 when he was president and the killing of Balochistan leader Akbar Bugti.

But the threat of imprisonment on arrival had receded with Pakistani courts granting him pre-arrest bail for 10 days. The former president maintains the cases against him are unconstitutional and he is not afraid to stand trial.

Pakistan goes to polls on May 11. Earlier this month, its government completed a full, five-year term, a first in the country’s history.

Mr Musharraf seized power in Pakistan in a coup in 1999. He stepped down as President in 2008. Threatened with impeachment, he went on self-exile in early 2009. Last year, he delayed his homecoming after being threatened with arrest.

The All-Pakistan Muslim League has been trying to mobilise support for Mr Musharraf with an advertisement campaign in the Pakistan media.