Philippe Naughton | August 18, 2008
PERVEZ Musharraf announced today that he was resigning as a President of Pakistan to avoid an impeachment battle that would harm the nation¿s interests.Mr Musharraf made the announcement during a lengthy and at times emotional televised address in which he said that he was leaving office knowing that whatever he has done "was for the people and for the country".
"After consultations with legal advisers and close political supporters and on their advice, I’m taking the decision of resigning," the former general said. "My resignation will go to the speaker of the National Assembly today."
Until he confirmed his resignation towards the end, however, much of his defiant speech was spent denying that any of the impeachment charges against him could stand and angrily defending his time in power.
"Not a single charge in the impeachment can stand against me," he said. "No charge can be proved against me because I never did anything for myself, it was all for Pakistan."Mr Musharraf dominated Pakistan for years after seizing power in a 1999 military coup, making the country a key strategic ally of the United States by supporting the war on terror.
But his popularity at home sank over the years. Many Pakistanis blame rising violence in their country on his alliance with the United States, and his reputation suffered further last year 2007 when he ousted dozens of judges and imposed emergency rule.
He has been increasingly isolated since a parliamentary election last February elected a coalition government opposed to him.
The government, led by the party of assassinated former Prime Minister Benazir Bhutto, said earlier this month that it planned to impeach Mr Musharraf for violating the constitution and other alleged crimes, in what was seen as a clear attempt to force him from office.
Officials from Saudi Arabia, as well as the United States and Britain, have been involved in negotiations aimed at ending the damaging confrontation between President and Goverment.Mr Musharraf's popularity slumped last year amid his attempts to oust the country's chief justice and then during a wave of Taliban suicide bombings that killed more than 1,000 people, including former premier Benazir Bhutto.
He imposed a state of emergency in November last year to force his re-election to another five-year term through the Supreme Court, but his political allies were trounced at the February polls.
The coalition of parties which won the February election, led by Bhutto's Pakistan People's Party, finally overcame months of divisions and agreed to impeach Musharraf on August 7.
It piled on the pressure with no-confidence votes in Pakistan's four provincial assemblies last week. Then yesterday it said it had drawn up impeachment charges and would lodge them in parliament this week.
The charges reportedly included violation of the constitution and gross misconduct.
Officials say that Mr Musharraf's aides have been in talks with the coalition, brokered by Saudi Arabia, the US and Britain, to allow him to quit in return for indemnity.
Mr Musharraf's spokesman had repeatedly denied in recent days that he was about to quit, and it was not immediately clear what would happen next.
But a lack of apparent support from Pakistan's army, which he left in November, apparently made other options - including dissolving parliament or even declaring another state of emergency - impossible.Speculation over Mr Musharraf's fate intensified overnight when US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice said that granting asylum to Musharraf was not currently under consideration by the US.
“That's not an issue on the table, and I just want to keep our focus on what we must do with the democratic government of Pakistan,” Ms Rice said.
Western allies want Pakistan to resolve the crisis over Musharraf so it can deal with the fight against Taliban and al-Qa’ida militants in the tribal areas bordering Afghanistan, where nearly 500 people have died in the past week.The government is also struggling to deal with a severe economic crunch.
Source: The Australian
Posts
