Musharraf set to join fray of Pakistani political crisis
Former general to return amid talk of military coup
Pervez Musharraf, Pakistan’s former military ruler, is to return to his home country to contest forthcoming elections as a civilian.
Musharraf, who has been in exile in London, will go back despite facing arrest by the civilian government on treason charges. “His return will be announced by video link at a rally in Karachi on Sunday,” a source close to the former president told The Telegraph.
He is expected to fly to Pakistan by the end of January, plunging himself into a political crisis amid reports of an early general election and rumours that the military is on the brink of mounting a coup. The government is at loggerheads with the army over a memo allegedly sent by senior officials to U.S. military chiefs, asking for support to reduce military influence.
Yousuf Gilani, the country’s prime minister, said publicly that Pakistan’s generals were behaving as though they were a “state within a state.”
As rumours of a coup gather speed, Asif Zardari, the country’s president, has been forced to fly back to Pakistan from Dubai, where he was receiving treatment for “stroke-like symptoms.”
Gen. Ashfaq Kayani, the head of the Pakistan army, rejected coup claims, insisting the army would “continue to support the democratic process.” It is unclear whether the army command would back Musharraf, who ruled for nine years until he resigned under threat of impeachment in 2008.
However the military distrusts both Zardari and the rival Pakistan Muslim League-n, led by Nawaz Sharif, the prime minister deposed by Musharraf.
Political analysts believe the army command want to back an outside campaign in the elections but it is unclear if Musharraf fits the bill.
While there has been some support to “bring back the general,” Musharraf was deeply unpopular by the time he was forced out of power.