Former Pakistan president Pervez Musharraf, settled here on self-exile, has hinted at a return to Pakistan politics if the voters of his country decided.
Stating that he loved his country, the former President said “I would do anything to Pakistan.”
The retired general who was replaced last year in elections after nine years as president was speaking at a meeting at the Chatham House, a think-tank, here.
Mr. Musharraf, who ousted the elected government of prime minister Nawaz Sharif in 1999, said “For Pakistan one would be prepared to do anything. However, it is for the people of Pakistan who need to decide.”
“I’m a civilian now, I’m not a military man, I cannot take over anything,” a reference to his seizure of power while army chief from Sharif, the former military ruler said in a lighter vein.
“I have to come through the political process, through the process of elections.
But I think it’s very good - it’s very good because I think I will have that legitimacy which I never had,” he said.
Mr. Musharraf did not say if he has decided to return to Pakistan to face trial over his 2007 detention of judges as he clung to power.
Mr. Musharraf had imposed a state of emergency and sacked 60 judges on November 3, 2007 when the Supreme Court appeared poised to declare him ineligible to contest a presidential election while in military uniform.
Mr. Musharraf now lives in a three-bedroom flat behind the ‘shisha bars’ and ‘kebab joints’ of London’s Arabic quarter. But security remains tight.
The general is guarded by a small team of retired Pakistani commandos and pays for his security himself.
Scotland Yard also extends protection to the former Pakistani ruler.
