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Pakistan coalition bullish on Musharraf’s impeachment

ISLAMABAD: A day after sounding the war drums against President Pervez Musharraf, the ruling coalition was bullish that it had numbers in Parliament enough to oust him from office, that he could not dissolve the National Assembly or dismiss the government in his defence, and nor would the Army go to his rescue. All day, coalition leaders remained closeted in meetings. Pakistan People’s Party leader Asif Ali Zardari and Pakistan Muslim League (N) leader Nawaz Sharif have reportedly formed a joint “war cabinet” to draw up the impeachment resolution and the “charge-sheet” against President Musharraf.

Reflecting the new political mood, the PML(N) said it had decided that four of its members will rejoin the Cabinet in a “symbolic gesture” of the ruling coalition’s solidarity.

Information Minister Sherry Rehman said on Friday the coalition had “many more” than 295 votes, that make up the two-thirds in a joint sitting of the two Houses of Parliament — the National Assembly and the Senate — required to pass the impeachment resolution that the four-party coalition has agreed to bring against the retired General Musharraf.

The PPP and the PML(N) claimed that several members of the Pakistan Muslim League (Q), the principal political ally of President Musharraf, were ready to back the resolution.

Ms. Rehman told Dawn News television that 18 PML(Q) members of the National Assembly were already in touch with the coalition.

But coalition leaders are also hoping to bring enough moral and political pressure on the retired General Musharraf to step down much before the numbers start to matter.“We want him to go in a day or two,” said PPP spokesman Farahtullah Babar.

The four provincial Assemblies are expected to meet next week to pass resolutions demanding that General Musharraf seek a vote of confidence from the newly elected National Assembly and provincial Assemblies that form the electoral college for a presidential election.

Coalition leaders and analysts are predicting that the resolutions, when adopted by the provincial Assemblies, would bring tremendous pressure on the beleagured President to quit and that there was a “50 per cent chance” that he would step down instead of fighting back. But there is also the remaining 50 per cent chance that he will offer resistance.

On Friday, the PML(Q) leadership came out strongly in his defence indicating that the presidency may be rolling up its sleeves for a fight.

PML(Q) secretary-general Mushaid Hussain Sayed said General Musharraf “should fight his case” in parliament.

Mr Sayed argued that the president had already paid a “heavy price” for all his mistakes of 2007 through the electoral defeat of his party, and said that this was the best punishment in a democracy.

Despite fears that President Musharraf might move to dissolve the National Assembly and dismiss the government, coalition leaders were confident that he could not do so. Under the Constitution, the move has to be defended before the Supreme Court within a month.

The argument offered is that if the president took this step, particularly after the provincial Assemblies pass resolutions calling him up for a vote of confidence, it would smack of personal motives, and he would be unable to defend the action as being in the “national interest”.

The Pakistan Army is now seen as crucial in deciding General Musharraf’s fate. Chaudhary Nisar Ali Khan, a senior leader of the PML(N), told Dawn News television that he was optimistic that the Pakistan Army would play “a neutral role”.

A two-day meeting of the Army’s corps commanders chaired by Army chief General Ashfaq Parvez Kayani in Rawalpindi ended on Friday. Though the timing of the conference was seen as significant in view of the political developments, there was not a hint that the top brass discussed this at all.

The official word from the Army was that on the first day, the meeting focused on the situation along the Line of Control, where frequent ceasefire violations have caused tensions in the peace process with India. The second day was given to finalising promotions

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