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Pervez Musharraf vows return to 'suffering' Pakistan during visit to US
Speaking at Aspen Ideas Festival, the former Pakistan president said he will return despite Interpol arrest warrant
Sunday 1 July 2012 10.03 EDT
Former Pakistani president Pervez Musharraf told supporters on Sunday from Dubai that he was returning by the end of January to prepare for elections. Photograph: Jumana El Heloueh/Reuters
Former Pakistan president Pervez Musharraf has shrugged off his country's repeated calls for Interpol to arrest him, insisting during an appearance in the US on Saturday that he will return of his own accord.
At the Aspen Ideas Festival in Colorado, Musharraf said the present government was "running Pakistan into the ground" and said he will risk arrest by returning for elections this year "for the people of Pakistan".
Musharraf's appearance came just days after Pakistan's federal intelligence agency sent a second reminder to Interpol to arrest the former president, who it says is a "proclaimed offender" in the assassination of Benazir Bhutto in 2007.
"I know I see Pakistan and I know it has all the potential to do well for itself, now at this moment it's being run to the ground," said Musharraf, who lives in the UK and Dubai.
"Therefore I love my country and I love the people of Pakistan, and I thought I must go back to at least try to recover from this malaise that it is suffering from."
Musharraf, a four-star general who became chief executive of Pakistan in a military coup in 1999 before ascending to the presidency in 2001, resigned in 2008 when he was facing threat of impeachment from opposition parties.
He went into self-imposed exile after his resignation, but this year Pakistan has twice contacted Interpol to remind the international organisation there is an arrest warrant for Musharraf, who is charged with treason and conspiracy to commit murder of the popular Bhutto.
But speaking in Aspen, Musharraf repeated his previous assertions that he would return voluntarily, "even at risk to my life".
At one point the former president openly weighed up the pros and cons of a military coup in the regal setting of the Aspen ideas institute, saying that while Pakistan's constitution is "sacrosanct", "the state is being run to the ground at the moment, and people are again running to the military to save the country".
"Should we save the country, and do something unconstitutional, or uphold the constitution of the country, and let the state go down?"
In a wide-ranging interview with Atlantic Media Company owner David Bradley, Musharraf reminisced about travelling to Iran in 2004 in an attempt to dissuade President Ahmadinejad and the Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei from pursuing nuclear weapons.
Musharraf discussed talking to Ahmadinejad and Khamenei in 2004
"You should not adopt a confrontational course, you should adopt a conciliatory course, for the sake of the world and the region," Musharraf recalled telling Ahmadenijad, however the Iranian president did not listen to Musharraf's suggestion.
"They are determined to develop a nuclear arsenal, although I do not think they have a reason to develop," Musharraf said.
"Iran has not posed any threat, therefore they do not need to go nuclear."
The former president did not give specific dates for his return to Pakistan. He has previously said he would return in January this year and then in March, but on both occasions remained in his self-imposed exile.
Musharraf hopes to lead his All Pakistan Muslim League party's campaign in Pakistan's 2013-scheduled elections.
Pervez Musharraf vows return to 'suffering' Pakistan during visit to US | World news | guardian.co.uk
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