“Being a former president it is his right to get official security and protocol,” Interior Minister Rehman Malik told a private TV channel on Monday.

There have been speculations that after the UN commission report blamed the Musharraf regime for the assassination of Benazir Bhutto, the government will withdraw his protocol.

According to the TV channel, a three-member committee recently set up by Prime Minister Yousuf Raza Gilani to investigate the hosing down of the crime scene, has demanded withdrawal of the official protocol being provided to Gen Musharraf.

Twelve regular army officers are deployed for the security of the former president who lives in London.