DUBAI, United Arab Emirates — Former Pakistani President Pervez Musharraf gathered today with supporters at Dubai’s international airport for his planned return to his homeland after more than four years in self-exile.
DUBAI, United Arab Emirates — Former Pakistani President Pervez Musharraf gathered today with supporters at Dubai’s international airport for his planned return to his homeland after more than four years in self-exile.
The journey to Karachi is intended as the first step in a possible political comeback of Musharraf, an ex-general who angered Islamic militants and others by siding with America in the response to the Sept. 11, 2001 terrorist attacks.
Musharraf’s gambit comes with significant risks. He faces charges that include the probe of the 2007 assassination of former Prime Minister Benazir Bhutto. The Pakistan Taliban also has vowed to mobilize death squads to send Musharraf “to hell” if he returns.
Mushar-raf has backed out of previous promises to head home. Yet he appeared committed to follow through with his pledge just hours before today’s scheduled flight, which will include backers from his political party and Pakistan’s influential expatriate communities.
Musharraf met briefly with reporters before heading to the airport wearing a white shalwar kameez — the traditional loose-fitting outfit in Pakistan — and sandals from the country’s Peshawar region near the Afghan border.
Musharraf took power in a 1999 coup and was forced to step down in 2008 amid growing discontent over his rule. He has since lived in Dubai and London.
Musharraf announced in early March that he would return to Pakistan to lead his party, the All Pakistan Muslim League, in May elections.
A Pakistan court last week granted him pre-emptive bail — essentially preventing his immediate arrest — in three cases in which he’s implicated, including Bhutto’s death.
He now has 10 days to appear in court. He has dismissed the various charges as baseless.
His return comes as Pakistan seeks for the first time to hand power from one elected government to another. The country, meanwhile, is struggling with rolling blackouts, rising inflation and widespread security problems.
On Saturday, the Pakistan Taliban released a video threatening to unleash suicide bombers and snipers against Musharraf if he comes back. One of the two people speaking in the video was Adnan Rashid, a former Pakistani air force officer convicted in an attack against Musharraf. The Taliban broke Rashid out of prison last year, along with nearly 400 other detainees.
“The mujahedeen of Islam have prepared a death squad to send Pervez Musharraf to hell,” said Rashid, who spoke in the video in front of a group of about 20 militants holding rifles. “We warn you to surrender yourself to us. Otherwise we will hit you from where you will never reckon.”
Musharraf had been expected to address supporters at a gathering today in Karachi near the mausoleum of Pakistan’s founding father Mohammed Ali Jinnah. But police decided to cancel his permit because of a “very serious threat,” said Tahir Naveed, the deputy inspector general of Karachi police.