Former military ruler Pervez Musharraf,
who is currently in self-exile from Pakistan, has announced he will
return home by March 23 next year, and said that he would contest the
next general elections from all four provinces of the country.
Musharraf, who launched his own political party All Pakistan Muslim
League (APML) in October 2010, has claimed several times that he would
return to lead the party and contest the next elections.According to a media report last month, he had abandoned his plans of returning to the country after the Pakistani military leadership refused to provide him extra security to counter multiple threats to his life.
However, Musharraf allayed doubts about his return to Pakistan at a press conference in Dubai, saying that he would return to Pakistan by March 23, 2012.
"I have chosen this date and the place because this day we celebrate Pakistan National Day to commemorate Pakistan Resolution which was passed in Lahore on March 23, 1940," Gulf News quoted Musharraf, as saying
"I can go even earlier, depending on the political environment in the country, but March 23, 2012 is my deadline to return," he maintained.
When asked from which constituency he would contest the elections, the former president replied: "Mine will be a nation-wide political party and I will contest elections from all the provinces of Pakistan."
In an earlier interview in Arabian language newspaper Al-Sharq AlAusat, the retired general had said he had left Pakistan as he was facing life threats and also because of politically motivated judges there, adding that he feared baseless cases would be filed against him on his return.
In February, Pakistan's Law Minister Babar Awan had said that Musharraf would have to prove his innocence before the court in the Benazir Bhutto assassination case.
Musharraf, during whose presidency former Prime Minister Benazir's assassination took place in Rawalpindi on December 27, 2007, was not named an accused in the original FIR, but the Federal Investigation Agency (FIA) later required him for investigation and named him in the case suspecting him of abetment/conspiracy, following which the court issued non-bailable arrest warrants thrice for him.
The notice, however, remained un-executed the third time as well, as no arrest of Musharraf, who lives in London, could come about.
"I don't fear arrest and court cases, and have decided in principle to return to Pakistan," Musharraf said at the press conference.
He also said that he would soon launch the APML's organisational structure nationwide to introduce himself as a third political alternate in the run-up to the next general elections expected in 2013.
So far, Musharraf does not have people around him to win electoral seats to lead to the parliament, but the former president is banking on 60 per cent of people of Pakistan who, he claimed, did not vote in the past, but will come out to vote for him. (ANI)
