Pakistan’s Musharraf returns home from exile
Pakistan’s former president Pervez Musharraf returns home on Sunday after nearly four years of self-imposed exile despite facing death threats from the Taliban.
Hundreds of supporters holding his pictures, and some beating drums, welcomed him as he arrived at Karachi airport.
Mr Musharraf told his supporters that he was not scared of anyone.
“I have come. I have come today. People said I would not come. Where are those people now? They would say I will not return. People
were trying to scare me. I fear only Allah, no one else,” he said.
Mr Musharraf hopes to regain influence and run in a general election scheduled for May 11.
The former army general seized power in a 1999 coup. He resigned in 2008 when his allies lost a vote and a new government threatened him with impeachment. He left the country a year later.
Mr Musharraf faces charges of failing to provide adequate security to former prime minister Benazir Bhutto before her assassination in 2007. He also faces charges in connection with the death of a Baluch separatist leader.
My heart cries tears of blood when I see the state of the country today. Pervez Musharraf
Mr Musharraf had been granted bail in advance to avoid being arrested upon his return but he could be detained at a later date.
It remains unclear whether Mr Musharraf will manage to regain influence in Pakistan, where strong contenders for the election include Nawaz Sharif, the man he ousted in a military coup, and cricketer-turned-politician Imran Khan.
The former president has been far removed from Pakistan’s numerous troubles during his exile in London and Dubai.
“Where is the Pakistan I left five years ago gone? I ask where is that Pakistan? Where is that Pakistan? My heart cries tears of blood when I see the state of the country today,” he said.
On Saturday, Pakistan’s Taliban said in a video that they would despatch suicide bombers and snipers to kill the former president and send him to “hell”. Musharraf dismissed the threats. Musharraf angered the Taliban and other groups by joining the US war on terror following the September 11 attacks and by late launching a major crackdown on militants in Pakistan.
Musharraf has said he will spend the first few days upon his return in the port city of Karachi before going to Islamabad to deal with his legal problems.
