Musharraf ends exile, to return to Pak before elections

Former Pakistani president and military dictator Pervez Musharraf on Friday announced the end of his self-imposed exile and said he will return to Pakistan within one week after the formation of an interim government.

Musharraf said that he would land in the Karachi, Islamabad or Rawalpindi and will face the cases in the courts. He said that his heart was "bleeding" for his country. "I am not going to Pakistan to create enemies. It's time for reconciliation. For all those who love Pakistan, I would like to tell them that I am returning to Pakistan because I love Pakistan."

He also said, "Religious terrorism is eating us from the inside. People are destroying Pakistan in the name of religion."

Since 2011, there have been repeated reports that Musharraf will return to Pakistan before the next national elections. He had himself said this in many of his media interactions.

Sixty-nine-year-old Musharraf had launched his own political party, the All Pakistan Muslim League, in June 2010. The former Presdient, who has been away from Pakistan since 2008 after the Pakistan Peoples Party was elected into power with a coalition government, was speaking at a press conference in Dubai.

Musharraf faces two court warrants for his arrest in connection with the 2006 death of Akbar Bugti and the 2007 assassination of ex-prime minister Benazir Bhutto.