Pervez Musharraf arrives in London for one week

Former military ruler of Pakistan General (retired) Pervez Musharraf arrived in London from Dubai for a week long stay. He was received at the Heathrow airport by his party workers and others.

He will stay at his Edgware flat in central London and will proceed to America after one week where he is scheduled to live for three weeks and afterward will come back to London.

Meanwhile, in an interview, he has said that the NRO with political parties was glaring mistake of his life. In an interview, he said that Pakistan could not oppose attacking Afghanistan after 9/11 and siding with US was the need of hour.

According to the London-based The Nation, he went on to say that situation in the world had entirely changed after 9/11. India was ready to provide its airbases to US if Pakistan did not provide its airbases to US for attacking Afghanistan, he held. "I raised Kashmir issue with Indian former premiers Vajpayee and Manmohan Singh and this issue was heading towards its solution", he underlined.

He stated that Lal Masjid operation and removing Iftikhar Chaudhry as chief justice of Pakistan were correct steps. "I have no concern with May, 12 Karachi incidents and militant wings of political parties were involved in them, he observed.

He said that United States mounted too much pressure for bringing Benazir to Pakistan, adding Benazir Bhutto on the other hand returned to Pakistan by violating the agreement. Following the arrival of Benazir in Pakistan Saudi Arabia mounted sufficient pressure to allow Nawaz Sharif to return to Pakistan.

"I could decide about construction of Kalabagh dam in the first three years. I went up to Karachi, Sukkar and Hyderabad for developing a consensus on the construction of Kalabagh dam. But during the remaining five years, this problem could not be addressed due to the formation of a government, he pointed out.

He underlined that Altaf Hussain should now quit the MQM as he had no future in the politics of Pakistan.

"Situation in Karachi is alarming and needs a proper and effective leadership to control overall situation", he added.