Karachi: Undeterred by the Pakistani government's threat of arrest in connection with Benazir Bhutto assassination, former president General Pervez Musharraf on Sunday said he will return to Pakistan and contest elections next year.
The self-exiled leader addressed a rally in Karachi via video conference from Dubai on Sunday and said he will re-enter politics as 'Pakistan needs change'.
His announcement came at an impressive rally organised by the All Pakistan Muslim League (APML) near the Quaid-e-Azam Mazar in the city which was attended by hundreds of people who kept on imploring him to return to Pakistan.
Winding up his video address to the crowd at the party's first big rally, Musharraf, currently living in Dubai and London on self-exile since April 2008, said he was not scared of anyone and would return to Karachi between January 27 and 30.
Musharraf, 68, said that he would contest the next general elections from Chitral in Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa.
"I am living comfortably abroad and I have no problems but I am coming back for the Pakistani people because now is the time for change. People are fed up with the old faces," he said.
"They are trying to scare me but I am not a scared person and I am coming back to face the situation," he added to the cheering crowd that included large number of families and women.
Musharraf was declared a fugitive last year by the Rawalpindi-based court conducting the trial of those charged with involvement in the December 2007 assassination of Bhutto.
Pakistan's Federal Investigation Agency prosecutor Chaudhry Zulfiqar Ali told reporters in Islamabad on Saturday that Musharraf will be arrested on returning to Pakistan as an anti-terrorism court has declared him a "proclaimed offender" or a fugitive.
He said Musharraf is a "proclaimed offender" and there is no need of any warrant for making the arrest.
The former military ruler left Pakistan in April 2009, months after he was forced to resign from the post of President by the Pakistan People's Party-led government.
Since then, he has lived in Dubai and London in self-exile.
A slew of civil and criminal cases have been filed against Musharraf across the country and government prosecutors have said he would be arrested on his return as an anti-terrorism court had declared him a fugitive for not cooperating with investigators probing the 2007 assassination of former premier Benazir Bhutto.
The former President's announcement to return to Pakistan comes just hours after Interior Minister Rehman Malik told reporters in Islamabad that Musharraf should be arrested on his return as he was a proclaimed offender.
Malik supported the statement of senior special prosecutor, Azhar Chaudhary made on Saturday that the former President will be arrested from the airport. During his address, Musharraf said he would face all the cases that have been instituted against him.
He called on party leaders, workers and supporters to work to promote the APML in all parts of Pakistan.
Musharraf said if his party comes to power, he would make the Hazara region of Khyber-Pakhtukhwa a separate province.
He dismissed allegations that he was an enemy of the Baloch people, saying such charges were being levelled by those who did not want to see Balochistan province prosper.
He contended that his party would shake up the political arena like an earthquake.
He also discussed his achievements during the nine years he was in power, saying he had broken the begging bowl and stopped taking aid from the International Monetary Fund.
Strict security measures were put in place for the public meeting, with about 25 walk-through gates being installed at the venue.
(With additional information from PTI)
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