ISLAMABAD, March 4: Interior Minister Rehman Malik on Sunday said he had formally asked Interpol to issue an arrest warrant for former military ruler Pervez Musharraf over the murder of Benazir Bhutto.

“We have sent a request to the Interpol for the arrest of Pervez Musharraf,” Mr Malik told reporters here.

Gen (retd) Musharraf, who has lived in self-imposed exile in London and Dubai since August 2008, has indefinitely delayed plans to return home to contest elections after the government warned he would be arrested upon arrival.

Courts have issued warrants for his arrest over the 2006 death of Akbar Bugti and the 2007 assassination of Ms Bhutto.

Mr Malik has accused Mr Musharraf of refusing to provide her with adequate security and of threatening her by telephone when she was in Washington before returning to Pakistan in October 2007.—AFP