Nawaz has no choice but to endorse military's decision on Musharraf's return: Rashid.

KARACHI -- Former interior minister Sheikh Rashid Ahmed has said that the military leadership has taken a bold decision with regard to the return of ailing former military ruler Pervez Musharraf, and PML-N supremo Nawaz Sharif had no option but to endorse it.

Musharraf - who has been living in self-exile since 2016 - was sentenced to death on Dec 17, 2019 by a special court which found Musharraf guilty of high treason under Article 6 of the Constitution. Now, he is terminally ill and, according to his family, wants to spend rest of his life in Pakistan.

A day earlier the chief military spokesperson, Maj Gen Babar Iftikhar, said that the military brass believes Musharraf should be brought back. 'General Pervez Musharraf's health is very bad. In such a situation, the leadership of the institution is of the view that he should be brought back to Pakistan. But this decision will be made by his family and doctors,' he said in a television interview on Tuesday.

'If the family gives its consent, then arrangements would be made to bring him back.' The Express Tribune reported on Monday that Musharraf has expressed a desire to spend the rest of his life in Pakistan.

Gen (retd) Pervez Musharraf had toppled the government of Nawaz Sharif in 1998 in a bloodless military coup and then sent the Sharif family into exile after a foreign-brokered deal. However, Nawaz said he holds no grudge against him.

'I have no personal feud with Pervez Musharraf. I don't want anyone to go through the same emotional shock and trauma with regard to their loved-ones as I had to endure,' he said in a cryptic reference to his tormentor. 'I pray to Almighty Allah to grant his recovery. If he wants to return...