Pakistan's ex-leader in exile: Pervez Musharraf's quiet new life in west London | World news | The Guardian
From the sweeping presidential palace of Islamabad to an unassuming three-bedroom flat behind the shisha bars and kebab joints of London's Arabic quarter one might have expected Pervez Musharraf to do better.
But retirement has been an unsettling experience for Pakistan's former military ruler who, hounded by the threat of prosecution at home, finds himself living in the traditional bolthole of Pakistan's political class.
His simple apartment in a red-brick complex off Edgware Road is a sobering change from the pomp of Musharraf's nine-year rule. Gone are the legions of political acolytes; gone, too, are the liveried soldiers who snap to attention.
But security remains tight. The retired general is guarded by a small team of retired Pakistani commandos, which he pays for himself, and more controversially a protection detail from Scotland Yard.
The retired dictator's digs are not cheap the apartment, thought to cost over £1m, is furnished with fine silk carpets and leather sofas but neither are they large. A modest living room overlooks rain-laden skies. A small study contains mementoes of past and present: a framed Time magazine cover picturing the bluff general under the headline The Toughest Job in the World; a model cruise ship from a recent holiday; a biography of London.
The question is how long he will stay. The retired ruler, looking relaxed in a cardigan and with his black hair newly dyed, declined to comment on the furore surrounding him in Pakistan. But he was clear about one thing: "I am not in exile."
Back home in Islamabad, the opposition is baying for his blood. Nawaz Sharif, the former prime minister Musharraf ousted in a coup in 1999, wants him tried for treason, a charge that carries the death penalty. The supreme court is also controlled by an enemy, the chief justice, Iftikhar Chaudhry.
Yet few pundits believe Musharraf will face trial in the near future. The army, led by General Pervez Kayani, opposes a treason charge. So does the civilian president, Asif Zardari, who fears it could upset fragile civil-military relations. Nevertheless, they consider it wiser if the general, who resigned 13 months ago, stays away for now.
The general finds himself in a city where he once banished rivals such as Sharif and Benazir Bhutto. His three-bedroom apartment is a far cry from the Park Lane penthouses owned by Sharif proof, supporters say, that he did not greatly enrich himself in office.
Still, he lives well, dining at the Dorchester hotel, playing golf and hosting musical evenings at home. A recent YouTube video revealed him to be an accomplished Urdu singer. He regularly plays bridge with his confidante, Brigadier Niaz Ahmed, a retired arms dealer, and insists on protocol.
A senior Pakistani official said that Musharraf pays £450 to hire an official VIP lounge every time he flies from or to Heathrow airport, and travels in a bulletproof vehicle. However, it is the nature and cost of his taxpayer-funded protection that is most controversial.
Lord Nazir Ahmed, a trenchant critic in the House of Lords, tabled a parliamentary question about the cost of these security arrangements in July. The government replied that it was "established Home Office policy not to comment on protective security arrangements and their related costs".
Nazir said: "Our old age pensioners don't get security, so how can we pay for an old general who wants to enjoy himself in London?"
The Pakistan-born peer said he was collecting evidence for a possible war crimes prosecution through Bindmans solicitors, who pursued the retired Chilean dictator Augusto Pinochet through the British courts in the late 1990s.
Perhaps recognising that a prolonged stay in London could be problematic, government officials do not want Musharraf to remain for long. A senior official said he was on a visitor's visa and predicted he would take up permanent residence in the Middle East or in the US, where his son Bilal lives.
For now, though, Musharraf is polishing his public speaking: he starts a 40-day lecture tour of the US next Tuesday. He has said the talks will focus on his expertise about Islamic militancy, but also seek to redress Pakistan's poor international image. "Pakistan is a most misunderstood country," he said. "I enjoy the opportunity to clear up misperceptions."
In particular, he is expected to be critical of Washington's close relationship with India reflecting a view widely held in Pakistani military circles. Some journalists have already dubbed Musharraf the "army ambassador" to London.
The 16 lectures are organised by the Harry Walker Agency, whose other speakers include Musharraf's erstwhile partner in the "war on terror", former US vice-president Dick Cheney. Among the organisations he will address is the Young Presidents' Organisation, a forum for putative American leaders.
Musharraf will certainly have some insider tips for the power-hungry students although whether his method constitutes best practice is likely to trigger debate.
Allegations, intrigue and al-Qaida
Did the Pakistani opposition leader Nawaz Sharif meet the al-Qaida leader, Osama bin Laden, five times in 1989? So says Khalid Khawaja, a retired spy with Pakistan's Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI) agency.
"I should know," he told the Guardian. "I arranged those meetings."
The prospect of Pervez Musharraf being tried for treason has stirred a storm of spicy political allegations in Pakistan. While the retired general has few public supporters, his side has been bolstered by a series of damaging allegations against his arch-nemesis, Sharif.
Last month a former ISI general said the spy agency gave Sharif a large cash bribe to help scupper Benazir Bhutto's chances in the 1990 election. Two days ago came the Osama allegation.
"This is a character assassination campaign," said a Sharif spokesman, Asif Kirmani, who denied the accusations. "It could be those forces who do not want Musharraf on trial."
Many see the hand of the military, which wants to avoid a Musharraf trial, behind the publicity. Others blame the rivalry with President Asif Ali Zardari, who is deeply unpopular.
Either way, Musharraf enjoys the protection of powerful allies some outside the country.
During a visit to Pakistan last month, a senior British diplomat, Sir Mark Lyall Grant, issued a statement denying press reports that he had been "meddling" in Musharraf's future.
Last week the king of Saudi Arabia, Abdullah bin Abdul Aziz Al Saud, sent a private jet to London to collect Musharraf and bring him to the kingdom for a three-day visit. The unspoken message, Pakistani analysts say, was clear: don't mess with Musharraf.
From the sweeping presidential palace of Islamabad to an unassuming three-bedroom flat behind the shisha bars and kebab joints of London's Arabic quarter one might have expected Pervez Musharraf to do better.
But retirement has been an unsettling experience for Pakistan's former military ruler who, hounded by the threat of prosecution at home, finds himself living in the traditional bolthole of Pakistan's political class.
His simple apartment in a red-brick complex off Edgware Road is a sobering change from the pomp of Musharraf's nine-year rule. Gone are the legions of political acolytes; gone, too, are the liveried soldiers who snap to attention.
But security remains tight. The retired general is guarded by a small team of retired Pakistani commandos, which he pays for himself, and more controversially a protection detail from Scotland Yard.
The retired dictator's digs are not cheap the apartment, thought to cost over £1m, is furnished with fine silk carpets and leather sofas but neither are they large. A modest living room overlooks rain-laden skies. A small study contains mementoes of past and present: a framed Time magazine cover picturing the bluff general under the headline The Toughest Job in the World; a model cruise ship from a recent holiday; a biography of London.
The question is how long he will stay. The retired ruler, looking relaxed in a cardigan and with his black hair newly dyed, declined to comment on the furore surrounding him in Pakistan. But he was clear about one thing: "I am not in exile."
Back home in Islamabad, the opposition is baying for his blood. Nawaz Sharif, the former prime minister Musharraf ousted in a coup in 1999, wants him tried for treason, a charge that carries the death penalty. The supreme court is also controlled by an enemy, the chief justice, Iftikhar Chaudhry.
Yet few pundits believe Musharraf will face trial in the near future. The army, led by General Pervez Kayani, opposes a treason charge. So does the civilian president, Asif Zardari, who fears it could upset fragile civil-military relations. Nevertheless, they consider it wiser if the general, who resigned 13 months ago, stays away for now.
The general finds himself in a city where he once banished rivals such as Sharif and Benazir Bhutto. His three-bedroom apartment is a far cry from the Park Lane penthouses owned by Sharif proof, supporters say, that he did not greatly enrich himself in office.
Still, he lives well, dining at the Dorchester hotel, playing golf and hosting musical evenings at home. A recent YouTube video revealed him to be an accomplished Urdu singer. He regularly plays bridge with his confidante, Brigadier Niaz Ahmed, a retired arms dealer, and insists on protocol.
A senior Pakistani official said that Musharraf pays £450 to hire an official VIP lounge every time he flies from or to Heathrow airport, and travels in a bulletproof vehicle. However, it is the nature and cost of his taxpayer-funded protection that is most controversial.
Lord Nazir Ahmed, a trenchant critic in the House of Lords, tabled a parliamentary question about the cost of these security arrangements in July. The government replied that it was "established Home Office policy not to comment on protective security arrangements and their related costs".
Nazir said: "Our old age pensioners don't get security, so how can we pay for an old general who wants to enjoy himself in London?"
The Pakistan-born peer said he was collecting evidence for a possible war crimes prosecution through Bindmans solicitors, who pursued the retired Chilean dictator Augusto Pinochet through the British courts in the late 1990s.
Perhaps recognising that a prolonged stay in London could be problematic, government officials do not want Musharraf to remain for long. A senior official said he was on a visitor's visa and predicted he would take up permanent residence in the Middle East or in the US, where his son Bilal lives.
For now, though, Musharraf is polishing his public speaking: he starts a 40-day lecture tour of the US next Tuesday. He has said the talks will focus on his expertise about Islamic militancy, but also seek to redress Pakistan's poor international image. "Pakistan is a most misunderstood country," he said. "I enjoy the opportunity to clear up misperceptions."
In particular, he is expected to be critical of Washington's close relationship with India reflecting a view widely held in Pakistani military circles. Some journalists have already dubbed Musharraf the "army ambassador" to London.
The 16 lectures are organised by the Harry Walker Agency, whose other speakers include Musharraf's erstwhile partner in the "war on terror", former US vice-president Dick Cheney. Among the organisations he will address is the Young Presidents' Organisation, a forum for putative American leaders.
Musharraf will certainly have some insider tips for the power-hungry students although whether his method constitutes best practice is likely to trigger debate.
Allegations, intrigue and al-Qaida
Did the Pakistani opposition leader Nawaz Sharif meet the al-Qaida leader, Osama bin Laden, five times in 1989? So says Khalid Khawaja, a retired spy with Pakistan's Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI) agency.
"I should know," he told the Guardian. "I arranged those meetings."
The prospect of Pervez Musharraf being tried for treason has stirred a storm of spicy political allegations in Pakistan. While the retired general has few public supporters, his side has been bolstered by a series of damaging allegations against his arch-nemesis, Sharif.
Last month a former ISI general said the spy agency gave Sharif a large cash bribe to help scupper Benazir Bhutto's chances in the 1990 election. Two days ago came the Osama allegation.
"This is a character assassination campaign," said a Sharif spokesman, Asif Kirmani, who denied the accusations. "It could be those forces who do not want Musharraf on trial."
Many see the hand of the military, which wants to avoid a Musharraf trial, behind the publicity. Others blame the rivalry with President Asif Ali Zardari, who is deeply unpopular.
Either way, Musharraf enjoys the protection of powerful allies some outside the country.
During a visit to Pakistan last month, a senior British diplomat, Sir Mark Lyall Grant, issued a statement denying press reports that he had been "meddling" in Musharraf's future.
Last week the king of Saudi Arabia, Abdullah bin Abdul Aziz Al Saud, sent a private jet to London to collect Musharraf and bring him to the kingdom for a three-day visit. The unspoken message, Pakistani analysts say, was clear: don't mess with Musharraf.
