Former Pakistan ruler Musharraf vows to return home

Speaking in London, where he has lived since being forced to step down as president in 2008, he said he would return in time to stand in elections due in 2013.

Pakistan has endured a turbulent year. Already mired in financial crisis, 2010 has seen the country's worst ever natural disaster - with millions made homeless by floods - and weeks of speculation that a political crisis could bring down the shaky government of President Asif Ali Zardari. Mr Musharraf, who seized power in a bloodless coup in 1999, said the only way to tackle Pakistan's myriad problems was to strengthen the army's role.

"When there is a dysfunctional government and the nation is going down and its economy is going down … there is a pressure on the military from the people," he said.

"There is a sense of despondency spreading in Pakistan. We cannot allow Pakistan to disintegrate. So who is the saviour? The army can do it. Nobody else can do it."

His words will be seen as yet another challenge to a weak government in a country still struggling to come to terms with democracy after almost a decade with Mr Musharraf at the helm.

However, few believe that the retired general has the support to launch a serious bid for power.

"He doesn't have the same kind of clout he did," Wajid Shamsul Hasan, Pakistan's ambassador to Britain who was appointed under Mr Musharraf, said. "He's yesterday's man."

Mr Musharraf seized power when Nawaz Sharif, the then prime minister, tried to replace him as head of the army, taking over the position of president in 2001.