Musharraf vows to ‘save’ Pakistan on return from exile

Karachi: Pakistan’s former military ruler and President Pervez Musharraf on Sunday vowed to “save” the country at the risk of his life.
“I have come back home today. Where are those who used to say I would never come back?” the former dictator, who plans to stand in a historic May 11 general election, told members of his political party at Karachi airport.
Hundreds of supporters had gathered at the airport, beating drums, dancing, waving green flags with pictures of Musharraf and Pakistan’s founder Mohammad Ali Jinnah, and scattering rose petals.
“I don’t get scared by anyone except Allah the Almighty… I have come back by putting my life in danger,” Musharraf, who also faces a series of legal cases, told a gathering of his All Pakistan Muslim League.
“I have been ordered by my people to come back and save our Pakistan, even at the risk of my life. I want to tell all those who are making such threats that I have been blessed by Allah the Almighty.”
Musharraf, who has been granted protective bail to lift the threat of immediate arrest on his return to Pakistan, told reporters before leaving Dubai that he was “not feeling nervous” but admitted some concern.
“I am feeling concerned about the unknown… there are a lot of unknown factors of terrorism and extremism, unknown factors of legal issue, unknown factors of how much I will be able to perform (in the elections),” he said.
One of the legal cases that has long ensnared him concerns the assassination of Benazir Bhutto in December 2007, three months after she returned to Pakistan from her own self-imposed exile.
Another case concerns the 2006 death of Akbar Bugti, a Baloch rebel leader in the southwest, and another relates to the 2007 sacking and arrest of judges.
Bhutto’s son Bilawal Bhutto Zardari, who is chairman of the Pakistan People’s Party, has accused Musharraf of his mother’s murder.
In 2010 a UN report said Bhutto’s death could have been prevented and accused Musharraf’s government of failing to provide her with adequate protection.
Security was tight at the airport in Karachi. Police at the airport said 1,000 well-wishers had turned out to see him.
Supporters chanted “Long Live Musharraf” and his catchphrase, “Pakistan First”. Young boys wore ” Pakistan First” T-shirts emblazoned with his picture. (News Agency with inputs)