Sindh Minister :Musharraf will be arrested on arrival

Sindh Home Minister Mansour Wassan said yesterday that former military ruler Pervez Musharraf will be arrested as soon as he arrives at Karachi airport by the end of this month. Wassan was addressing a press conference at his residence after Sunday''s rally for Musharraf in which he announced he would be coming back home to lead his newly-formed party, All Pakistan Muslim League. "No one is above the law and we have the warrant against him," Wassan said, "and I have ordered the police to handcuff him at the airport ." Wassan told the media that his government has received warrants from the Balochistan government to arrest Musharraf in connection with the murder of Nawab Akbar Bugti, the former provincial governor and an influential tribal chief. Bugti was killed in a military operation in August 2006 during an insurgency he led and fighting the military in the barren mountains of rugged Balochistan province. The operation was carried out when Musharraf was the president of Pakistan and the army chief. Later on Bugti''s son lodged a police report against Musharraf holding him responsible for the killing of Bugti. A district court of Balochistan province in October 2011 issued a red warrant against Musharraf, who is in exile. There is another case against Musharraf which accuses the former president of failure to provide security to Benazir Bhutto, who was killed in the garrison city of Rawalpindi in December 2007 during her election campaign. "We don''t have a warrant for Musharraf in that case but we certainly will make it part of the litigation once he is arrested," Wassan said. Anticipating his arrest, Musharraf told the rally that he is ready to face the cases against him. "I will come even at the cost of my life and I will face all the cases against me in the courts," he told his 10,000 supporters who attended the rally. The Sindh government''s orders could unleash bickering between the civilian government and Pakistani Army. Political analysts have speculated that the army will not allow Musharraf to be arrested, setting up fresh conflict between it and the government of President Asif Ali Zardari. The country is facing an acute power shortage, energy crisis, growing unemployment and high inflation. (QNA) LY