Musharraf will be arrested if he returns: Gilani

Musharraf who left the country in 2009 is an accused in killing of Baloch leader Akbar Bugti.

Former president Pervez Musharraf will “certainly” be arrested if he returns to Pakistan,Prime Minister Yousuf Raza Gilani said today.

“In fact there had been murder charges against him,and there had even been some very grave charges against him,and the Supreme Court had already given a verdict against him,” Gilani was told CNN from the Global Economic Forum in Davos.

“Certainly when he’ll come back,he has to face those charges and certainly be arrested,” he said.

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Meanwhile,Musharraf has deferred his plans to return home from self-exile after repeated threats by the country’s leadership that the former general would be arrested upon arrival,an official of his party.

Heeding the advise of the executive committee of his party and his friends and supporters,Musharraf has decided to defer his return to his home country,the official said.

68-year-old Musharraf had announced earlier this month he planned to return home from self-imposed exile in London and Dubai between January 27 and 30 and take part in a parliamentary election due to be held by 2013.

Days after his announcement,Sindh Home Minister Manzoor Wassan had said Musharraf would be arrested and sent to jail as soon as he arrived in Karachi.

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Interior Minister Rehman Malik had also said that Musharraf would be arrested under the law of the land whenever he arrives in Pakistan.

Leaders of Musharraf’s All Pakistan Muslim League today said he had delayed his plans to return to the country from self-exile later this month after consulting friends and party leaders.

An arrest warrant is pending against the former general for his alleged failure to cooperate in the probe of assassination of former prime minister Benazir Bhutto in 2007.

Musharraf who left the country in 2009 is also an accused in the killing of Baloch nationalist leader Akbar Bugti in a military operation in August 2006.