Pakistan's Musharraf expected to resign within days amid impeachment drive
As the push for impeachment gains momentum, the Pakistani leader is expected to step down and leave on his own terms rather than face humiliation.
ISLAMABAD, PAKISTAN — Indications grew stronger Thursday that President Pervez Musharraf, whose allegiance has been a linchpin of the U.S. fight against the Taliban and Al Qaeda, will be pushed into resigning in the next few days rather than face a humiliating impeachment saga.
In recent days, longtime allies of the Pakistani president have fallen by the wayside. Close associates and Western diplomats have signaled that the former general's camp has entered talks to ensure that if he does step aside, he will be allowed to head abroad into self-imposed exile rather than potentially face trial in Pakistan for constitutional violations and corruption.
A fourth and final provincial assembly, that of Baluchistan, was poised today to demand that Musharraf, who came to power in a military coup in 1999, quit or face a vote of confidence in national and regional assemblies, setting the stage for the start of impeachment proceedings.
"At this point, it is hard to see why anyone would stick their neck out for Gen. Musharraf," said political analyst Nasim Zehra.
Amid nationwide celebrations Thursday of the country's Independence Day, anger at the president, whose allied party was decisively defeated in February parliamentary elections, was a muted but pervasive theme.
"I am celebrating our independence, which I feel is near," said Mohammed Saleem Iqbal, strolling with his family in a park in Islamabad, the capital. "Our independence from a certain person."
Over the last week, following a formal announcement by the new ruling coalition that it would seek to oust the president, anti-Musharraf momentum has built, buoyed by still-strong fury over his declaration last year of emergency rule, akin to martial law. Under it, thousands of government opponents were thrown into jail, the constitution was suspended, and senior judges, including the popular chief justice, were fired, and have yet to be reinstated.
Shouts of "Go, Musharraf, go!" rang out in the high-ceilinged chambers of regional assemblies this week, as one after the other voted overwhelmingly to demand that he stand accountable. The most recent vote, in Sindh province, was unanimous, with Musharraf shunned even by members of a party that had long allied itself with him, the MQM, or Muttahida Qaumi Movement.
