Musharraf may delay return to Pakistan

ISLAMABAD: Pakistan's former military ruler Pervez Musharraf may delay his planned return from self-imposed exile after Islamabad warned that he would be arrested, a close aide said Thursday.

Mohammad Amjad, senior vice president in Musharraf's All Pakistan Muslim League, told AFP that "no final decision had yet been taken" but said the retired general would make an announcement on his plans "later, perhaps today".

"His friends and party officials want him to postpone it for sometime. This was discussed yesterday at a meeting and conveyed to him," Amjad said.

Musharraf had promised to fly home between January 27-30 to contest general elections now widely expected within months as Pakistan's civilian government sinks deeper into a major crisis, squeezed by the military and the judiciary.

On Wednesday, Interior Minister Rehman Malik told the upper house of parliament that Musharraf would be arrested if he lands in Pakistan.

"There are three registered cases against him. He has been named in these cases, so ultimately he will be arrested," Malik said. (AFP)