Hot News: Musharraf Likely To Resign Today, To Go Into Exile
Pakistan — The Pakistani ruling coalition plans to introduce impeachment charges against President Pervez Musharraf next week in parliament. This comes after the fourth and final provincial assembly voted unanimously for the action. Musharraf has two options - stay and fight the charges, or resign. 2
Developments from Pakistan suggest that President Pervez Musharraf is all set to address the nation on Monday afternoon to announce his resignation. Sources say he will announce his resignation in the next couple of hours - all this because he doesn’t want to face an impeachment chargesheet. Sources have told CNN-IBN that the Pakistan government is ready to help the beleagured leader if he wants to go abroad. 1
Developments from Pakistan suggest that President Pervez Musharraf is all set to address the nation on Monday afternoon to announce his resignation. Sources say he will announce his resignation in the next couple of hours - all this because he doesn’t want to face an impeachment chargesheet. Sources have told CNN-IBN that the Pakistan government is ready to help the beleagured leader if he wants to go abroad. 1[EXTRACT]Back-channel negotiations between the Pakistani coalition government, which came to power after elections in February, and Musharraf have not produced an exit deal for him, though he is still most likely to resign rather than face impeachment. But there is not much time left, as early this week Pakistan’s parliament is scheduled to move an impeachment motion in parliament, which would kick off the prosecution. 4
Sharif, who heads the Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N), clearly does not want Musharraf to quietly fade away. He wants him accountable for his years in power after staging a military coup in 1999. The PML-N helped form a coalition government following February’s elections, with the dominant Pakistan People’s Party (PPP), but since then it has had an uneasy relationship with its new political partner. 3
What remained to be worked out were guarantees for Musharraf’s physical safety if he stayed in Pakistan, or where he would go into exile. Among the places that Musharraf is said to favor if he goes abroad are Dubai, Turkey, the United Kingdom or the United States, though his strong preference is to stay in Pakistan, Pakistani politicians familiar with the negotiationssaid. 5
Musharraf suspended the constitution for six weeks towards the end of last year. Subversion of the constitution is one of the grounds for impeachment. Although the president cannot muster enough support to beat the parliamentary motion, analysts believe he does hold some strong cards, as the government has been heavily lobbied by western allies and Pakistan’s powerful army, which do not want to see messy and risky impeachment proceedings. 6
Musharraf presided over Pakistan’s role in the “war on terror” and issues such as Pakistani terror suspects - hundreds of whom disappeared - could feature in the prosecution. “Nobody wants the Pandora’s box opened up,” said Najam Sethi, editor of Pakistan’s Daily Times. “The issue of impeachment is really a non-starter.” 7
Pakistani President Pervez Musharraf will address the nation on Monday afternoon, local TV channel reported. “President Musharraf will address the nation at 1 p[.]m.” Dawn News TV channel quoted president spokesman Rashid Qureshi as saying. But Qureshi did not say what Musharraf will say at the address. Musharraf is facing an impeachment pressure from the ruling coalition. 8
Although Musharraf cannot muster enough support to beat the impeachment proceedings in parliament, analysts believe that he does hold some strong cards. The government has been heavily lobbied by Western allies and Pakistan’s powerful army, who do not want to see the messy and risky impeachment proceedings. The government indicated that it is willing to cut a deal. 9
