Tags:
Journalism of Courage
Hours after Pakistani Taliban threatened to kill him,Pakistan8217;s former military ruler and President Pervez Musharraf today appeared unfazed and said he will return home from self-exile to lead his party in the upcoming general election.
8220;I am going home as announced. I am not scared of anything 8211; be it the death threat from terrorists or the arrest on arrival,8221; Musharraf said in here after addressing his party supporters at a reception.
Musharraf is scheduled to leave Dubai for Karachi tomorrow morning with his party supporters.
Responding to a question on the Taliban8217;s threat to dispatch suicide bombers and snipers to kill him on his arrival in Karachi,Musharraf told Gulf News,8221;Being an ex-commando with 40 years8217; service in the army,I can8217;t be intimidated with these cowardly threats8221;.
In a video released to reporters in northwest Pakistan today,Tehrik-e-Taliban Pakistan spokesman Ihsanullah Ihsan said Musharraf will be the 8220;main target8221; of the militants on his return.
Ihsan asked Musharraf to surrender to the Taliban.
Adnan Rashid,a militant who was involved in an earlier attempt to assassinate 69-year-old Musharraf,said the Taliban had formed a special squad of suicide bombers to target the former President.
Rashid,who escaped from prison last year,is shown in the video training a group of Taliban fighters assigned to target Musharraf.
He threatened Musharraf and called on him to surrender to the Taliban.
8220;Otherwise we will target you at such a place you will not know,8221; he said.
In the six-minute video,both Ihsan and Rashid referred to the 2007 military raid on the radical Lal Masjid in Islamabad and said,8221;We will not leave you alive.8221;
Earlier this week,Saudi officials had warned him against returning to Pakistan,citing 8220;danger8221;.
