Defiant Musharraf returns to Pakistan for elections
Source: Agencies |
March 25, 2013, Monday
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PAKISTAN'S former President Pervez Musharraf returned home yesterday after nearly four years of self-imposed exile to contest elections despite the possibility of arrest and death threats from the Taliban.
Musharraf hopes to regain influence so that his party can win seats in the general election on May 11, when he will face fierce competition, including from the man he ousted in a military takeover.
"People said I would not come. Where are those people now? People were trying to scare me. I only fear Allah, no one else," Musharraf said at Karachi's airport, as more than 1,000 supporters cheered.
The former army general, who seized power in a 1999 coup, quit in 2008 when his allies lost a vote and a new government threatened him with impeachment. He left Pakistan a year later.
Musharraf has been far removed from Pakistan's numerous troubles during his exile in London and Dubai, where he lived in a posh part of the Gulf Arab emirate.
"Where has the Pakistan I left five years ago gone? My heart cries tears of blood when I see the state of the country today," Musharraf said. "I have come back for you. I want to restore the Pakistan I left."
Musharraf has not spelled out how he would do that as the election race heats up.
A caretaker government, headed by newly-appointed Hazar Khan Khoso, a former judge, will make preparations for elections.
Musharraf may soon run into legal problems. He 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 separatist leader in southwestern Baluchistan province. He denies any wrongdoing.
Musharraf has been granted bail in advance to avoid being arrested upon his return, but could be detained at a later date.
Musharraf's most immediate concern may be Pakistan's Taliban, who threatened in a video on Saturday to despatch suicide bombers and snipers to kill him and send him to "hell."
Musharraf dismissed the threats, but a rally he was supposed to hold yesterday afternoon was cancelled. Al-Qaida assassins tried to kill Musharraf at least three times in the past.
He angered the Taliban and other groups by joining the US war on terror following the September 11, 2001 attacks and by later launching a major crackdown on militants.
Militants were enraged when Musharraf's security forces launched a full-scale attack on Islamabad's Red Mosque in 2007 after followers of radical clerics running a Taliban-style movement from there refused to surrender. The government said 102 people were killed in fighting when the complex was stormed.
Musharraf hopes to regain influence so that his party can win seats in the general election on May 11, when he will face fierce competition, including from the man he ousted in a military takeover.
"People said I would not come. Where are those people now? People were trying to scare me. I only fear Allah, no one else," Musharraf said at Karachi's airport, as more than 1,000 supporters cheered.
The former army general, who seized power in a 1999 coup, quit in 2008 when his allies lost a vote and a new government threatened him with impeachment. He left Pakistan a year later.
Musharraf has been far removed from Pakistan's numerous troubles during his exile in London and Dubai, where he lived in a posh part of the Gulf Arab emirate.
"Where has the Pakistan I left five years ago gone? My heart cries tears of blood when I see the state of the country today," Musharraf said. "I have come back for you. I want to restore the Pakistan I left."
Musharraf has not spelled out how he would do that as the election race heats up.
A caretaker government, headed by newly-appointed Hazar Khan Khoso, a former judge, will make preparations for elections.
Musharraf may soon run into legal problems. He 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 separatist leader in southwestern Baluchistan province. He denies any wrongdoing.
Musharraf has been granted bail in advance to avoid being arrested upon his return, but could be detained at a later date.
Musharraf's most immediate concern may be Pakistan's Taliban, who threatened in a video on Saturday to despatch suicide bombers and snipers to kill him and send him to "hell."
Musharraf dismissed the threats, but a rally he was supposed to hold yesterday afternoon was cancelled. Al-Qaida assassins tried to kill Musharraf at least three times in the past.
He angered the Taliban and other groups by joining the US war on terror following the September 11, 2001 attacks and by later launching a major crackdown on militants.
Militants were enraged when Musharraf's security forces launched a full-scale attack on Islamabad's Red Mosque in 2007 after followers of radical clerics running a Taliban-style movement from there refused to surrender. The government said 102 people were killed in fighting when the complex was stormed.
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