Outgoing President Asif Ali Zardari will be vacating his office on Sunday as the first to have completed a five-year presidential term in Pakistan.
According to Senator Farhatullah Babar – the president’s spokesperson – Zardari would leave for Lahore after receiving a guard of honour, influential Pakistani media Dawn reported.
"He will be greeted by Pakistan Peoples Party activists at Bilawal House. His belongings have already been sent to Karachi."
Speaking to a private television, the president said he would focus on organising his party after stepping down instead of pursuinga prime ministerial position.
Zardari rose to popularity after his marriage with Benazir Bhutto in 1987.
Between 1993 and 1996, he held various cabinet positions in the second Benazir-led government.
He was arrested on charges of corruption in late 1996, following the collapse of the Benazir government.
Although incarcerated, he nominally served in parliament after being elected to the national assembly in 1990 and the senate in 1997.
He was released from jail in 2004 and went into self-exile in Dubai, but returned home in December 2007 after Benazir Bhutto’s assassination.
He drove a coalition that forced General Pervez Musharraf to resign in August 2008.
Zardari was later elected president on Sept 6, 2008.
