Returning home: Musharraf offered to contest poll from Dera Bugti

Musharraf, who heads the All Pakistan Muslim League (APML), said that he has been offered an opportunity to fight elections even from Dera Bugti.

Dera Bugti is the hometown of the late Baloch chieftain Nawab Akbar Bugti, who was killed in an August 2006 operation. Years later, Musharraf was nominated by the slain chieftain’s heirs in the murder case.

Speaking on the Express News talk show Takrar, the former president expressed his willingness to testify before a Supreme Court-appointed commission to probe into the controversial Lal Masjid operation. “I will appear before it and will not let my ego stand in the way,” he said.

Declared a proclaimed offender by the Supreme Court with orders to be arrested whenever found, Musharraf said that he had not yet decided about the final date of his return to Pakistan. But he said he would “come back before the forthcoming general elections.”




He also said that he would contest the elections from constituencies in all the four provinces. “I will contest elections from Chitral in Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa,” he said.

Qadri connection

Musharraf disclosed that Minhajul Quran International chief Dr Tahirul Qadri had contacted him before embarking on a long march through the federal capital. Once the long march was over, Musharraf said he had also congratulated Dr Qadri on its success.

The APML chief refuted claims that there were contacts between him and Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf chairman Imran Khan, though he admitted that the two had some common friends. According to Musharraf, Imran should have taken part in the long march.

Referring to relations between Pakistan and India, he said that some Indian politicians and some elements in the Indian army do not favour peace with Pakistan and keep creating obstacles in the peace process.

Published in The Express Tribune, January 21^st, 2013.