Musharraf unwinds with tennis after resigning

Two criminal complaints have already been filed against Musharraf.

Khalid Khwaja, a rights activist, on Wednesday petitioned the Islamabad High Court about last year's army assault on the city's radical Red Mosque.

Critics dispute official accounts of the battle with militants holed up in the mosque, insisting scores of innocent women and children died in the bloody siege.

The son of a Baluch rebel leader on Monday asked police to investigate Musharraf and a host of former security officials for the killing of his father. Nawaz Akbar Bugti died when his cave hide-out collapsed during a military operation in 2006.

"If this does not work, our people will follow him (Musharraf) wherever he goes, and whenever they find a chance they'll kill him or get hold of him alive" and bring him back to a Pakistani court, Talal Bugti said.

Shaiq Usmani, a former high court judge, said cases will likely founder because of the difficulty of proving Musharraf's direct responsibility.

Musharraf ordered the Red Mosque operation "for clearing the area of the terrorists. If it just so happened that somebody else was there and he was killed, he can't be held responsible for murder," Usmani said.

High treason charge
However, he said a high treason charge under Pakistan's constitution could have serious consequences for the ex-president.

Officials have suggested Musharraf will soon leave the country at least temporarily — perhaps on pilgrimage to Saudi Arabia — to let the furor surrounding him die down.

A U.S. State Department spokesman said Tuesday that if the ex-general were to request residence in the United States, officials would consider it.

Usmani said Musharraf would prefer to settle into a private life — though not a dull one — in his beloved Pakistan.

"He'll play a lot of golf. He's very social. He knows a lot of people. He's a member of all the clubs in Karachi," he said. "So I suppose he can have a great time, enjoy himself — provided Nawaz Sharif and the lawyers leave him alone."

More from msnbc.com First Read: Palin on creationism, Clinton, Fey Scoop: Will Meyer bite into another ‘Twilight’ book? Ice addict heads for poles, Everest | Trek posts Were you paying attention? Take our weekly quiz World Blog: China puts foot down on 'Oba Mao' T-shirts Stimulus tracker: See where millions of dollars went On Twitter: Breaking news updates | Weird and wild

MORE FROM SOUTH & CENTRAL ASIA

South & Central Asia Section Front

Bombing at police station in Pakistan kills 3 French, Afghan troops push into hostile valley Fabled Foreign Legion finds a new war to fight Clinton says Karzai ‘must do better’ NYT: Obama eyes cost of Afghan decision South & Central Asia Section Front   Add South & Central Asia headlines to your news reader: