Defiant Musharraf returns to Pakistan Touchdown: Pakistan's former military ruler Pervez Musharraf arrives at the Karachi International airport. Former president Pervez Musharraf has defied the risk of arrest and death threats from the Taliban to return to Pakistan for the first time in more than four years. The former military dictator, who ruled Pakistan for nearly a decade until 2008, arrived on an Emirates flight from Dubai on Sunday afternoon. He was immediately whisked from public view by security but was expected to address the assembled crowd - hundreds of people had gathered beating drums, throwing flower petals and waving green flags - in the evening. Supporters of Pervez Musharraf gather at Karachi airport. Photo: Reuters/Akhtar Soomro Mr Musharraf has returned to lead his new party, the All Pakistan Muslim League, in the country's general elections. While he has a constituency who are fiercely loyal to him, Mr Musharraf's party does not have the structural organisation or the established vote bank to compete with the two major parties. His risk of being arrested is low, for now. A Sindh provincial court has granted him protective bail which bars his arrest for the next 10 days, and it is unlikely he will be arrested during the election campaign. But should his stay in Pakistan extend beyond that, he faces a raft of serious charges. It is alleged Mr Musharraf deliberately failed to provide adequate security to former prime minister Benazir Bhutto, who was assassinated at a rally in 2007. He was also charged over the alleged imprisonment of 60 judges in their homes in Islamabad. And in Balochistan, he faces charges he ordered the murder of a Baloch tribal chief in 2006. Legal impediments aside, the risk to Mr Musharraf's safety is current and very real. The Pakistani Taliban has said it would dispatch snipers and suicide bombers to kill him if he returned to Pakistan. The Mujahideen of Islam have prepared a special squad to send Musharraf to hell. There are suicide bombers, snipers, a special assault unit and a close combat team," convicted terrorist Adnan Rasheed, who tried to kill Mr Musharraf and has since escaped from jail, said in a video message. The Taliban and other militant groups have opposed Mr Musharraf since he gave his support to the United States in the war on terror after the September 11 attacks, and because he oversaw a major army offensive against militancy in Pakistan. As he prepared to return, Mr Musharraf has maintained he is not afraid of the threats or the charges against him, which he says are baseless. I am going home as announced. I am not scared of anything - be it the death threat from terrorists or arrest on arrival. Mr Musharraf was Chief of Army Staff in 1999 when he seized power in a bloodless coup from elected Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif, who was seeking to replace him. He ruled Pakistan, suspending the constitution and jailing opponents, until he acceded to elections in 2008. When opposition parties won the election and made clear their intention to impeach him, Mr Musharraf fled the country. He has since divided his time between London and Dubai. Sunday was the first time he had set foot on Pakistani soil since leaving. On Sunday morning, just hours before Mr Musharraf's return, a suicide bomber rammed an explosive-laden water tanker into an army checkpost in the tribal province of North Waziristan, killing 17 soldiers. There are fears that extremist violence could derail Pakistan's historic general elections on May 11, which, if completed, would mark the first democratic transition of power between two civilian governments in Pakistani history.