Musharraf buys flat in UK, to be new neighbour of Tony Blair

London, May 25 (ANI): Pakistan's former president General (retired) Pervez Musharraf has bought a flat in the Edgeware Road neighbourhood where former British premier Tony Blair lives and Interior Minister Rehman Malik possesses a house, sources have said.

Malik's flat was the venue of the signing of the historic Charter of Democracy between the late Benazir Bhutto and Nawaz Sharif.

But some of his close friends in London said that Musharraf is looking around to buy a flat in central London, preferably around Edgware Road area where most of the property is owned by Arabs and where a two-bed room flat costs around pounds 500,000 to pounds 700,000.

Others said that he was looking for a villa in Chelsea where the property was worth between two million pounds to five million pounds.

In London, Musharraf stays at the Richmond house of his old friend and long-standing bridge partner Brigadier Niaz, The Dawn reported.

Musharraf's close friends also insist that he has no intention of settling down in the UK. But his detractors are convinced that he has no plans of going back home, at least until the retirement of Chief Justice Iftikhar Mohammad Chaudhry.

One of his old friends, a former air force officer, Zafar Iqbal, is said to have approached a number of well-informed persons to get an idea about the various possibilities in store for Musharraf on his return home.

Meanwhile, Musharraf has left for Prague where he is scheduled to deliver a lecture at a defence-related think tank on May 27.

Musharraf arrived in London early last month after having travelled to China and Saudi Arabia on what is being described by his friends as a post-retirement extended holiday. (ANI)