LONDON, (Reuters) – Former military ruler Pervez Musharraf apologised to Pakistan yesterday for mistakes he made in office and said he would return to the country as the new head of a political party in time for elections due by 2013.
Musharraf, who seized power in a coup in 1999, has lived in exile in London since quitting in 2008 to avoid impeachment. He would risk being arrested or killed if he returned.
“I will be in Pakistan before the next election, whatever the dangers,” he told a conference to launch his political career as the new leader of the All Pakistan Muslim League.
Musharraf, who become embroiled in a row with the judiciary and briefly imposed a state of emergency in 2007, said he realised his popularity had plummeted because of some wrong decisions he had made in the last year of his presidency. “I take this opportunity to sincerely apologise to the whole nation for those wrong decisions,” he told a meeting of several hundred supporters, which was also broadcast live on screens in the Pakistani cities of Lahore and Karachi.
