Dubai:
Former Pakistan President Pervez Musharraf has announced in Dubai today to end his self-imposed exile of five years and his return to the country within weeks to contest elections.
"I have decided that I will return to Pakistan within one week after the formation of the caretaker government, likely to be set up by March 16," he told a news conference in Dubai.
General Musharraf said he was returning because Pakistan's economy was in a bad state and addressing this was an urgent priority.
Last year, General Musharraf had delayed a planned homecoming indefinitely after the government warned that he would be arrested upon arrival and few commentators in Pakistan believe he will return this time.
"People say that there are cases against me and there is danger. I am not afraid of dangers and I leave it to God," General Musharraf said.
President Asif Ali Zardari's government, which won elections in 2008 after nine years of military rule, will become the first civilian government in Pakistan to complete a full-term in office this month.
It is to be replaced by a caretaker administration until elections are held, most likely in May.
"My party, All Pakistan Muslim League, will participate in the coming elections and we will inshallah (God willing) put up candidates in almost all the constituencies of Pakistan," said General Musharraf.
General Musharraf, who has lived in London and Dubai since stepping down in August 2008, has lost much of his power base in Pakistan.
Commentators question whether he has enough loyalists in the military to prevent him from being arrested in Pakistan and whether the army is willing to run the risk of having a former chief of staff thrown into jail.
General Musharraf said Pakistan needed a strong, stable government and presented himself as "a third political alternative" to Asif Ali Zardari's Pakistan People's Party and to opposition leader Nawaz Sharif, whom he ousted in a bloodless coup in 1999.
He called for free and fair elections, which he said would only be possible under supervision from the army.
Co-chairman of the Pakistan People's Party Bilawal Bhutto, son of Former Pakistan Prime Minister Benazir Bhutto and President Asif Ali Zardari, accused General Musharraf of murdering his mother.
Bilawal Bhutto Zardari told CNN in May 2012 that the former Pakistan President sabotaged his mother's security when she returned to her homeland in 2007 after her own exile.
"I hold him responsible for the murder of my mother," he said.
In 2010, a UN report said the murder could have been prevented and accused General Musharraf's government of failing to provide Bhutto with adequate protection.