London:The British government is spending around £25,000 (over Rs 20 lakh) a day to protect former Pakistan president Pervez Musharraf, who has made London his new home, a newspaper reported on Friday.
The Times said Scotland Yard's Specialist Protection Unit, known as SO1, has assigned a round-the-clock team of at least 10 men and women to protect the former army dictator, who lives in a luxurious three-bedroom flat in an Arab quarter of West London.
Musharraf has been using the flat as his base for about four months and also has a team of retired Pakistani commandos to protect him. He is said to be paying the Pakistanis from his own pocket.
The decision to provide him further British security was reportedly taken at a meeting of the Royal and VIP Executive Committee held at the Home Office.
The Times said the elite unit is responsible for the personal protection of the British prime minister, former prime ministers, certain government ministers, some ambassadors and "high-profile persons considered to be under threat from terrorist attack in the UK".
The costs are thought to include the provision of a car plus security equipment such as alarms and closed-circuit television cameras fitted to his flat. SO1 is providing the security detail.
A Pakistani-born member of the ruling Labour Party, Lord Nazir Ahmed has written to British Home Secretary Alan Johnson urging him to stop spending taxpayers' money on protecting Musharraf.
"I think the government needs to review Musharraf's security. There are people within Britain who could do with those extra police officers rather than a man who can afford private bodyguards," he said.
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