Musharraf plans to return to Pakistan after five years of exile

Former Pakistani president and army chief Pervez Musharraf plans to return to Pakistan on March 24th after spending five years in exile, as he hopes to lead his political party in the nation's upcoming general elections.

He will fly a commercial airliner to Karachi on the 24th and then will head to a rally slated to attract 50,000 people, including expatriates, wrote CNN.

Read more from GlobalPost: Pervez Musharraf to return to Pakistan this month

Musharaff had originally planned to return to Pakistan in late January in advance of the parliamentary elections, but had been warned by the government that he would be arrested immediately upon arrival, wrote AFP.

There remains a chance that Musharraf will walk into legal trouble with the Pakistani government, notes CNN, whose bank account was frozen and property confiscated by authorities in August of last year.

He is accused of failing to provide adequate security to former prime minister Benazir Bhutto, who was assassinated in 2007, wrote Reuters.

"President Musharraf has made it clear that he will present himself to the courts because he believes he hasn't done anything wrong," said Musharaff press aide Khurram Haris to Reuters.

Musharaff gained power in Pakistan after a coup in 1999, and then resigned from the post in 2008, leaving the country a year later.