The authorities shut down main roads, causing significant bottlenecks, as heavily armed paramilitary police, some of them dressed in riot gear, and plain-clothed intelligence agents fanned around the Islamabad high court.
Local television channels reported that he wore a bullet-proof jacket, an unprecedented precaution by a major figure making a public appearance in the capital, but AFP reporters could not approach the former military Chief to confirm.
Musharraf spent barely 20 minutes inside the courtroom to listen to the judge grant him bail until April 18, when he has been ordered to appear in person again, over his November 2007 sacking of judges, which paved the way for his downfall.
It was Musharraf's second appearance in court since he returned home on March 24 to contest general elections in May after four years of self-imposed exile, and his third bail extension in the judges' case.
He has also been bailed over the 2007 killing of former Prime Minister Benazir Bhutto and a Baloch leader in 2006.
Musharraf has been approved to stand in one constituency in the May 11 election, which will mark the first democratic transition of power after a civilian government has served a full term in office in the country's history.