Former Pakistani President Pervez Musharraf Flees Arrest Warrant - East Idaho News
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Former Pakistani President Pervez Musharraf Flees Arrest Warrant

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GETTY W 100611 Pervez%20MusharrafPakistan?  SQUARESPACE CACHEVERSION=1366362040734Riccardo S. Savi/WireImage(ISLAMABAD) — Former Pakistani President Pervez Musharraf may have overplayed his hand in thinking that his recent return from exile might put him on the road to a political comeback.

Now, Musharraf has to worry about getting thrown behind bars after Islamabad High Court Judge Shaukat Aziz Siddiqui ordered his arrest on old charges that he abused power while he was president.

Musharraf is now hiding out at his compound outside of the Pakistani capital, allegedly planning to appeal the arrest warrant.

After ruling the country for a decade before leaving Pakistan in 2009, Musharraf, 69, came back in late March to help his party in the upcoming parliamentary elections.  However, the courts ruled him ineligible because of accusations that he once suspended Pakistan’s constitution.

Musharraf’s reign was marked by numerous assassination attempts against him.  However, he managed to come out unscathed as he remained a close ally of the U.S. in an effort to keep al Qaeda and the Taliban from taking over Pakistan while a war raged next door in Afghanistan.

Things began to unravel quickly for Musharraf following the December 2007 assassination of former Prime Minister Benazir Bhutto,with many pointing the finger at the Pakistani president for allegedly organizing the murder.

While denying any involvement in the plot to kill Bhutto, Musharraf nonetheless left Pakistan in 2009 rather than face arrest. 

During his current stay, he has also alleged that the Pakistani government condoned some of the U.S. drone strikes against terrorist targets while he was president, contradicting what Islamabad has said for years.

Copyright 2013 ABC News Radio

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