Musharraf Faces Impeachment Effort

By CANDACE RONDEAUX

By Candace Rondeaux

The Washington Post

ISLAMABAD, Pakistan

Pakistan’s ruling coalition parties agreed Thursday to impeach President Pervez Musharraf, setting up a major showdown between the former military chief and the newly elected civilian government.

Leaders of the ruling Pakistan People’s Party and the Pakistan Muslim League-N faction called for a no-confidence vote in Parliament against Musharraf and said they could begin official impeachment proceedings in the next few days.

Pakistan People’s Party co-chair Asif Ali Zardari said Musharraf’s nearly nine-year rule had thrown the country into turmoil and that the time had come to break the six-month-long political deadlock that has paralyzed Pakistan since the civilian- dominated coalition was swept to power in parliamentary elections on Feb. 18.

“His policies have weakened the federation and eroded the trust of the nation in national institutions,” Zardari said at a news conference here with Pakistan Muslim League-N faction leader and former Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif. “The coalition believes it has become imperative to move for impeachment under Article 47 against General Musharraf.”

In world circles, Musharraf has been viewed alternately as a political pariah and bold statesman in a region that has suffered instability for more than three decades.

He has been a key ally in the U.S.-led war in Afghanistan, providing operational bases and logistical support for the U.S. military and arresting al-Qaida figures within Pakistan’s borders. Yet doubts have lingered about the sincerity of his loyalty to the U.S. mission. Recently, Pakistan has come under heavy pressure from the Bush administration to rein in Islamist insurgents in its tribal areas along the Afghan border, while Pakistan’s powerful intelligence agencies have been accused of assisting Taliban forces in Afghanistan.

Impeachment proceedings would be a separate action from the no- confidence vote. A combined two-thirds majority vote in both the National Assembly and Senate would be required to oust Musharraf from the presidency, which, if successful, would be the first in the nuclear-armed nation’s 61-year history .

In a sign of the seriousness of the crisis, Musharraf canceled at the last minute a scheduled trip to Beijing for the opening ceremonies of the Summer Olympics. The coalition government announced that Prime Minister Yousaf Raza Gillani would fly to Beijing instead.

Musharraf, who stepped down as army chief in December, remained silent Thursday, as the country braced for the possibility that the president could move to dissolve Parliament under a controversial amendment adopted during his rule. The president met with a top constitutional expert presumably to discuss his options, according to local news reports, and was expected to meet with Gen. Ashfaq Kiyani, chief of the Pakistani military, and top officers of the Pakistani army.

Originally published by BY CANDACE RONDEAUX.

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