"He is a free man now and allowed to move around, meet his family and political aides," said Aasia Ishaque, information secretary for the All Pakistan Muslim League. The former strongman had been under house arrest at his villa on the outskirts of Islamabad since April when he returned to Pakistan after more than four years of self-imposed exile.
Musharraf, who seized power in a 1999 bloodless military coup and ruled Pakistan until 2008, faces four criminal charges, including one of murdering former premier Benazir Bhutto in 2007.
Although courts granted him bail on all the charges, he may not leave Pakistan. The Interior Ministry has barred him from travelling abroad until he is acquitted in all the cases.
Musharraf's attorney Ilyas Siddiqi said he would file a request with the Supreme Court to let Musharraf visit his ailing mother in Dubai.
Ishaque dismissed speculation that Musharraf's release was a result of a deal between his international backers and Pakistan's government and that the former general would leave the country forever.
"I can assure you, he will remain in Pakistan and contest charges against him in courts," she said. Musharraf was planning to travel to Karachi Thursday to visit his family, she said. An Interior Ministry official warned there were grave threats to Musharraf's life from Islamist militants.
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