Musharraf delays Pakistan return without setting new date

Former Pakistani president Pervez Musharraf has delayed his return home, the head of his party said on Friday after repeated threats by the country's leadership that he would be arrested upon arrival. "He finally decided today that he would accept the recommendations" of the executive committee of the All Pakistan Muslim League party to delay his return, party secretary general Mohammed Ali Saif told reporters. "This decision (of returning) will be deliberated by the core committee of the party," he said. Friends and supporters had urged Musharraf to put off an imminent homecoming after Islamabad said he would be arrested if he returned from more than three years of self-imposed exile in London and Dubai. Saif said that "political developments in Pakistan took a turn" following Musharraf's announcement in early January of his intention to return by the end of the month. Reaction from government officials "led to a change in the political scenario and... a drastic change in the situation," he said. The party has concluded that "it would not be beneficial to the party's interest that (former) president Musharraf returns to Pakistan" in the current conditions, he added. Saif said the recommendations from party deliberations urged Musharraf, who is currently in Dubai to postpone his return home, "until the situation in pakistan becomes conducive to the return." "We have come to the conclusion that if the former president returns to Pakistan in this existing scenario this will in a way provide an escape route for our political opposition," he said, citing confrontations between parties of the existing political setup. "They would target his person through various means, and would try to divert public attention from there own problems," he charged. Musharraf had promised to fly home to contest general elections just as Pakistan's government sank deeper into a major crisis, squeezed by the military and the judiciary. His pledge met with repeated threats of his arrest, most recently by Prime Minister Yusuf Raza Gilani who, speaking to CNN earlier Friday, assured that Musharraf would be "certainly" arrested if he flew home. Musharraf faces two court warrants for his arrest in connection with the 2006 death of Akbar Bugti, a rebel leader in the southwest, and the 2007 assassination of ex-prime minister Benazir Bhutto after her own homecoming. In an interview broadcast on BBC radio earlier this month, Musharraf acknowledged he would be in danger in Pakistan. "I do feel endangered. There is a danger certainly, but you take your own protection and then leave things to destiny. Nobody can ensure you 100 percent protection," he said. Despite widespread disillusionment with the current government over power cuts, inflation, unemployment and the unpopular US alliance, few believe that the ex-dictator is the answer to Pakistan's troubles. The crisis saw Prime Minister Gilani hauled before the Supreme Court on contempt proceedings at a time of enormous pressure with the army over alleged government efforts to clip the military's wings with American help.