Pakistan police arrest former President Pervez Musharraf, later allow to return home

Pakistani police arrested former president Pervez Musharraf at his residence on the outskirts of Islamabad on Friday and presented him in court in connection with allegations he committed treason while in office, media reports and his lawyers said.

He was later allowed to return home.

Television footage showed Musharraf being escorted by uniformed police officers to an Islamabad court. A judge issued an arrest order for the former army chief on Thursday.

Qamar Afzal, Musharraf's lawyer, said Musharraf had voluntarily presented himself at the court.

Afzal said he had asked the court to order police to place Musharraf under house arrest at his residence rather than put him in jail. Musharraf returned to his residence after the brief hearing, Afzal added.

"This morning former president Pervez Musharraf surrendered before a judicial magistrate," Afzal, who accompanied to Musharraf to court, said.

Another lawyer for Musharraf, Ahmad Raza Kasuri, told Reuters that his legal team would file an appeal at the Supreme Court to try to overturn the arrest order later on Friday.

"Right now I am going to the Supreme Court to file a petition against the arrest orders," Kasuri said.

Musharraf, a former army chief who ruled Pakistan from 1999-2008, returned to Pakistan last month from nearly four years of self-imposed exile in the hope of running in next month's general elections.

But his bid to run for office has been rejected by election officials and he has instead found himself battling a host of legal challenges relating to his years in power.