Islamabad: Pakistan Taliban on Saturday threatened to assassinate
former president Pervez Musharraf when he returns home to Pakistan. It said its
suicide bombers and snipers will send Musharraf to “hell” if he comes back.
Musharraf, who has been living in London and Dubai since he left Pakistan in
early 2009, travelled to Saudi Arabia on Friday for what his party said was a
“one-day visit to perform Umrah”. An unnamed delegate travelling with Musharraf
was quoted by The News daily as saying that Saudi officials had told Musharraf
that he should consider postponing his return to Pakistan.
Musharraf had recently announced that he intended to fly into Karachi on
March 24. “The Saudis are concerned that Musharraf will be putting himself in
the way of danger if he returns to Pakistan as planned. The situation in
Pakistan, especially in the coming days, is going to be completely hostile to
him,” the delegate was quoted as saying.
Musharraf had recently announced that he intended to fly into
Karachi on March 24.
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Saudi officials held meetings with him in Dubai and whispered to him that the
Kingdom thought that Musharraf should review his plan and not fall to emotional
tinge," the delegate said. He also added that Saudi officials, including
intelligence agents, had held meetings with Musharraf. The same officials were
involved in negotiations that saw the former premier Nawaz Sharif leaving
Pakistan for Saudi Arabia after Musharraf took over in a bloodless coup in 1999.
Senior officials of Musharraf’s All Pakistan Muslim League party from the US
and Europe have accompanied the former dictator to Saudi Arabia. Analysts
believe that Musharraf’s party will lose support and perform poorly in the polls
to be held on May 11 if he is unable to return to Pakistan on Sunday.
A PML leader Asif Shahzad Chaudhry, currently in Dubai, said Musharraf has
every intention to go back to Pakistan and there would be no “looking back”.
“Tickets have already been booked. From the UK, Europe and US, nearly 150 people
have their tickets booked. Nearly 100 journalists will also accompany us,”
Chaudhry said.