DUBAI — Pakistan's former president Pervez Musharraf said on Saturday he has been granted bail in advance to avoid being arrested upon his planned return home on Sunday following nearly four years of self-imposed exile. Musharraf, who seized power in a 1999 coup, resigned in 2008 when his allies lost a vote and a new government threatened him with impeachment. He left the country a year later. “This is a pre-arrest bail, or pre-arrival bail, and it has been granted on all cases, there is no question on me getting arrested when I land in Pakistan,” he told Reuters in an interview in Dubai. The former army general 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 Baluch separatist leader. Musharraf said he will spend the first few days upon his return in the port city of Karachi before going to Islamabad to deal with his legal problems. “My arrest warrants were merely because of non-appearance in the courts, not that there is any case proven against me,” he said. “When I appear in the courts...the reason for my arrest should disappear.” Earlier this month, Musharraf said he planned to take part in upcoming parliamentary elections, and hopes his presence in the country would build up his support base. “Certainly there is support all over Pakistan in all provinces, but I call it dispersed support. What needs to be done is to consolidate this support,” he said. “Dispersed support is weak support when you consolidate all of that it turns into strong support. But this is not possible without my going there. I have to lead from the front, this can't be done by remote control sitting outside.” It remains unclear whether Musharraf will manage to regain influence in Pakistan, where strong contenders for the election include Nawaz Sharif, the man he ousted in a military coup, and cricketer-turned-politician Imran Khan, who rallied around 100,000 supporters in the eastern city of Lahore ahead of national elections. Khan is shaping up to be the biggest wildcard in the May 11 parliamentary election — the first transition between democratically elected governments in a country that has experienced three military coups. Casting himself as an anti-corruption crusader, the 60-year-old is seen as a threat to the two long-dominant parties as evidenced by the huge crowds that turned out Saturday to support him. Khan polls as the nation's most popular politician by a wide margin. But it's uncertain how effective he will be in converting his personal appeal into votes for his party. As he weighs in on his options in the parliamentary elections, Musharraf claims he had not received any political or financial support from Saudi Arabia. “I'm not looking forward to coming on the shoulders of external support. I have to have the support of the people of Pakistan,” he said. Meanwhile, on Saturday, Pakistan's Taliban said in a video that they would dispatch suicide bombers and snipers to kill the former president and send him to “hell”. Musharraf dismissed these threat and said they will not stop his return. — Agencies
