NEW DELHI, April 12 - RAPSI. Ex-Pakistani president Pervez Musharraf (1999-2008) admitted in an interview with CNN that his government secretly gave its consent to US drone strikes against terrorists in northwest Pakistan "on a few occasions, when a target was absolutely isolated and [there was] no chance of collateral damage."

Pakistani leaders previously insisted they had no part in the US drone program, which is extremely unpopular in Pakistan.

Musharraf said that Pakistani leaders only approved US drone strikes after discussions involving military and intelligence units and only if "there was no time for our own ... military to act."

Unmanned US drone strikes began in Pakistan in 2004. According to the non-profit UK Bureau of Investigative Journalism, between 2,600 and 3,404 Pakistanis have been killed by drones, of which 473-889 were reported to be civilians.

Musharraf returned to Pakistan in March this year to take part in the parliamentary elections. On April 8, the Pakistani Supreme Court forbade him from leaving the country and summoned him to court on charges of treason.

Musharraf is suspected of involvement in the murders of Baloch tribal leader Akbar Bugti in 2006 and ex-Prime Minister Benazir Bhutto in 2007. He also deposed Supreme Court judges and placed them under house arrest in 2007.

Nevertheless, Musharraf has been allowed to take part in the parliamentary elections scheduled for May 11. If elected, he will represent the parliamentary constituency of Chitral in the Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa Province.