Number 1A Park Road looks, at first glance, like many other houses built by Pakistan’s plutocrats on the outskirts of Islamabad: it has a swimming pool, a five-acre garden and a four-bedroom villa in a Moroccan and Mediterranean style.

Only the shiny new razor wire on the 8ft perimeter wall hints at what sets it apart from the rest of the posh Chak Shahzad neighbourhood, five miles outside the capital.

This is the house that Pervez Musharraf built.

When he resigned as President on Monday Mr Musharraf and his wife, Sehba, had planned to move out of Army House, their home since 1998, and into the villa, which is worth an estimated £1 million. After nine years in one of the most dangerous jobs in the world it was supposed to be their dream retirement home.

When The Times visited the villa yesterday it was deserted, except for a few men laying a brick driveway. It could take them 60 days to complete, but even then it is unlikely that the Musharrafs will move in. Defiant in defeat, Mr Musharraf told friends, after playing tennis yesterday, that he planned to stay in Pakistan. He even telephoned Hammad Husain, his architect, to discuss the work on the house.

“If I hadn’t known he had resigned, I would never have guessed,” Mr Husain, 38, the son of a former army officer who was in the Special Forces with Mr Musharraf, told The Times.

“I think he’s planning to live there. He’s taken such a strong interest in the house. I don’t think he’s one to run away,” he added.

Politicians and diplomats said, however, that the threat of prosecution and assassination made it extremely complicated, if not impossible, for him to stay in Pakistan — let alone in his new house.

One senior Pakistani diplomat said that Mr Musharraf planned to go to Britain first, possibly within a few days, but not to settle there. He might also visit Saudi Arabia for the Umra pilgrimage, and could spend weeks travelling overseas before deciding where to settle, the diplomat added.

Potential refuges include America, Saudi Arabia, Turkey and the United Arab Emirates.

Whichever he chooses, it will be a crushing disappointment for Mr Musharraf, who has personally supervised the design of his villa since work began in 2004.

“It’s a very simple house and reflects the President’s personality,” Mr Husain said. “It’s not ostentatious. It’s very understated and anything but palatial.”

He said that Mr Musharraf, 65, had been inspired after a trip to Morocco. The former President also wanted every room to have views on to the garden, which has a fish pond and an apple and citrus orchard.

“He’s very into greenery, nature, trees, plants and flowers,” Mr Husain said. “We worked hard to incorporate all the details according to the lifestyle he wanted to pursue.”

Mr Musharraf, a self-professed man of action, had the swimming pool designed for laps rather than relaxing and commissioned a walking track around the garden.

Despite his love of tennis and golf he chose not to install a court or a putting green — but the exclusive Islamabad Club is near by.

“He is not loaded with millions like other leaders are. Sometimes he worried about the cost of things. He’s not someone whose hand had been in the cookie jar,” Mr Husain said.

The size and value of the property, however, has raised eyebrows in a country where 73.6 per cent of the population live on less than $2 a day, according to the UN.

When Mr Musharraf purchased the empty plot in 2003 it was worth about 30 million rupees (£230,000), based on land prices in the area at the time. Today the house and garden are worth 120-140 million rupees, making it a good investment even if he has to sell it or rent it out.

The last time Mr Musharraf visited the property was the night before he resigned, Mr Husain said. The question now is whether he will ever be able to return.

To read, 'In the Line of Fire,' by Pervez Musharraf click here.

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