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Musharraf may quit to skirt impeachment

Pakistan president in talks, diplomats say

By Laura King | Tribune Newspapers - August 15, 2008

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 effort.

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 on allegations of constitutional violations and
corruption.

A fourth and final provincial assembly, that of Baluchistan, was poised to demand Friday that the
former military leader 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.

Over the past week, after 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. Thousands of government opponents
were thrown in jail, the constitution was suspended and senior judges, including the popular
chief justice, were fired.

Shouts of "Go, Musharraf, go!" rang out in the high-ceilinged chambers of regional assemblies
this week, as they 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
long allied with him, the MQM, or Muttahida Qaumi Movement.

The ruling coalition, led by the party of slain former Prime Minister Benazir Bhutto, said a
detailed charge sheet against the president, including charges that he misappropriated millions of
dollars in U.S. funds, would be presented next week. The national parliament, which would need
to formally set the impeachment process in motion, is scheduled to meet early in the coming
week.

Much of the talk of his imminent departure, however, is coming from those who have the most to
gain by his leaving office.

Sherry Rehman, information minister and a close Bhutto associate, has asserted daily that a "tidal
wave" against Musharraf is about to crash. Privately, some leading members of the Pakistan
People's Party are more circumspect about the hard numbers of lawmakers who would vote to
oust Musharraf, if it comes to that.
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Impeachment requires a two-thirds majority in the upper and lower houses of parliament, which
the coalition, at least on paper, does not possess. Nonetheless, two senior PPP officials said
Thursday they believed Musharraf was coming around to the idea that a voluntary departure, in
which he would have a degree of control over the circumstances, is preferable to a debilitating
impeachment fight.

Los Angeles Times