He had announced plans to return from exile in late January and run in upcoming elections -- but his party said he was reassessing those plans when Pakistan 's elected government warned that if he returned , he faced arrest in connection with the 2007 assassination of former Prime Minister Benazir Bhutto . A U.N. report in 2010 accused Musharraf 's government of failing to protect Bhutto , who had returned to Pakistan from her own exile to run for office . Musharraf has denied the allegations , arguing that Bhutto had police protection and took unnecessary risks , but a Pakistani court issued a warrant for his arrest . Bhutto 's widower , Asif Ali Zardari , is now Pakistan 's president . If Musharraf were to return , he would be walking into the middle of a public squabble between Pakistan 's civilian and uniformed leadership that was sparked by a memo that allegedly asked for U.S. help to rein in the military . In Sunday 's letter , the ex-generals said they opposed the `` bashing '' of Pakistan 's army and its powerful Inter-Services Intelligence agency . `` We feel that erosion of these institutions can
-LRB- CNN -RRB- -- Former top Pakistani military officers Sunday called for Pakistan 's former strongman to be allowed back without facing arrest and condemned what they called the `` bashing '' of the country 's armed forces . More than 100 former officers , most of them generals and admirals , signed their names to a letter calling for Pervez Musharraf to be allowed to return to Pakistan `` and contest elections according to democratic norms . '' The retired brass included the retired Gen. Muhammad Aziz Khan , once the head of Pakistan 's joint chiefs of staff during part of Musharraf 's rule , and Adm. Shahid Karimullah , who served as head of the navy under Musharraf . `` We feel that Gen. -LRB- R -RRB- Pervez Musharraf should be provided with a level playing field in the political arena and also provided protocol and security as befits any ex-president of the Islamic Republic of Pakistan , '' wrote the officers , who have formed a group they called `` Pakistan First . '' Musharraf , who seized power in a 1999 coup , has been living in London and Dubai since resigning in 2008 .