Thank you but no thanks, Musharraf tells Pakistan government

Former military ruler Pervez Musharraf has rejected "with thanks" the government's offer to bring his ailing mother to Pakistan from Dubai, one of his aides said today.

"Thank you very much but don't try to fool people," Aasia Ishaque, Musharraf's spokesperson, said when she was asked about his reaction to the offer made by the government yesterday.

The government said it was willing to bring Musharraf's 95-year-old ailing mother from Dubai in a special aircraft or an air ambulance as a humanitarian gesture so that the two could be reunited. The government also offered to provide her medical treatment.

"The government is trying to fool the people of this country. Musharraf has enough resources to bring back his mother if her health permits," Ishaque told PTI.

"The offer clearly shows that the government now knows that Musharraf is not going to run away despite all the pressure."

Advising the government to "concentrate on the miseries of the people", she said Musharraf will remain in Pakistan and fight "politically motivated" cases against him.

The 70-year-old former army chief, who is facing a plethora of cases, cannot travel abroad as he is included in the Interior Ministry's Exit Control List (ECL).

Musharraf's petition to have his name removed from the ECL, so that he could fly to Dubai to visit his mother, was rejected by the Sindh High Court.

Information Minister Pervaiz Rashid said yesterday that the independent judiciary will decide Musharraf's fate.

The former army chief is set to appear in a special court on January 1 to face charges of high treason for imposing emergency in 2007.

He is the first general to face trial for treason. If convicted, he could get life imprisonment or the death penalty.