In brief: Musharraf plans return, campaign

Islamabad, Pakistan – Former President Pervez Musharraf said Sunday that he planned to return to Pakistan in late January to prepare to campaign for elections, but authorities said he would be arrested as soon as he arrived at the airport.

Musharraf made the announcement by phone from the Persian Gulf emirate of Dubai to a gathering of supporters in Karachi, Pakistan’s largest city. He said he would arrive between Jan. 27 and Jan. 30.

Musharraf is wanted in Pakistan on charges stemming from allegations that he did not provide enough security to prevent the 2007 assassination of former Prime Minister Benazir Bhutto. The current government, led by Bhutto’s widower, Asif Ali Zardari, has made it clear that Musharraf would be detained if he sets foot on Pakistani soil.

Musharraf appeared undeterred by the threat. “I am not scared of anything, and hence I will come back,” he said.

National elections are scheduled for next year.

Police ID remains found on estate

London – The human remains found on the British royal estate of Sandringham are those of a missing 17-year-old girl, police said Sunday.

Forensic evidence identified the decomposed corpse as belonging to Alisa Dmitrijeva, a Latvian teenager who had been reported missing in August from her home in the town of Wisbech in eastern England, about 20 miles away from Sandringham.

The girl’s remains were discovered New Year’s Day by someone walking a dog in a wooded part of Sandringham, the country estate where Queen Elizabeth II and the royal family traditionally spend the Christmas holidays. Part of the vast estate is open to the public; the body was found about three miles from the royal residence.

The death is being treated as suspicious.