(CNN) -- Former Pakistani President Pervez Musharraf came to power in a bloodless military coup in 1999 when he was chief of Pakistan's army. He held power until the 2008 elections after which he resigned. Since then he has lived in self-imposed exile in London. In late 2010 he launched the All Pakistan Muslim League party with a view to running for office in 2013. Musharraf now says he plans to return to his home country sometime at the end of January. How did Musharraf establish himself as a player in Pakistani politics? Like most Muslims, Musharraf's family moved to Pakistan when British India was divided into India and Pakistan, and settled in Karachi. Musharraf's father was a career diplomat, which saw him spend his early childhood in Turkey due to his father's assignment in Ankara. But despite early family life in civil service, Musharraf decided on a different career path -- in 1964 he was commissioned second lieutenant in an artillery regiment in the Pakistani Army.
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Musharraf's rise through the military helped him cement his political power in Pakistan
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He deposed Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif in a bloodless coup in 1999
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Musharraf's popularity plummeted in 2007 after he suspended a senior judge
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He now says he'll return to his country between January 27 and 30, 2012
As Musharraf was returning from an overseas visit in October 1999, @placeholder refused to allow the commercial airliner with 200 passengers on board to land.