ISLAMABAD — Pakistan’s former military ruler, Pervez Musharraf, was freed on bail Thursday after six months under house arrest.

“Islamabad’s commissioner issued the release order at 10:30 a.m.,” Aasia Ishaque, a spokeswoman for Musharraf’s party, the All Pakistan Muslim League, said Thursday.

A court granted bail to Musharraf on Sunday in a case related to his role in the military siege of a mosque in Islamabad where militants were holed up. His lawyers submitted surety bonds on Wednesday.

Musharraf can now freely travel within the country. However, he is barred from traveling abroad without court permission, Ishaque said.

Speculation has been rife that Musharraf would go into exile after his release — he could desire to visit his ailing mother in Dubai, in the United Arab Emirates. However, Ishaque denied the speculation. “He is not leaving. He will stay in Pakistan,” she said.

Ishaque said the threat level to Musharraf’s security is “extraordinarily high.”

“He will not hold any public meetings for the next two days,” she said. “After that, he will start meeting people and will also hold a news conference.”

Since April, Musharraf has been at his farmhouse on the outskirts of Islamabad. Paramilitary troops and police officers guard the premises because of threats from Taliban and al-Qaida militants.

Musharraf, 70, was put under house arrest soon after his return to Pakistan from self-imposed exile in March. He faces an array of criminal charges, including involvement in the deaths of former Prime Minister Benazir Bhutto, the nationalist politician Akbar Khan Bugti and a religious leader, Abdul Rashid Ghazi.

Musharraf has denied the accusations.

Meanwhile, Pakistani Taliban have reportedly chosen a man who some say planned the attack on teenager Malala Yousafzai as its new leader.

Mullah Fazlullah was reportedly appointed as the Pakistani Taliban’s new head Thursday, a little less than a week after the U.S. killed his predecessor, Hakimullah Mehsud, in a drone strike.

Fazlullah has served as the Pakistani Taliban’s leader in the northwest Swat Valley but is believed to be hiding in neighboring Afghanistan.