Army gives Musharraf one week to resign from office
Pakistan's all-powerful army chief of staff will ask President Pervez Musharraf to resign from office within a week, a senior government official said yesterday.
The claim was supported by a former military aide to the president, who said that the army's leadership wanted Mr Musharraf to be spared the humiliation of impeachment.
The civilian government has intensified its seven-month power struggle with the president by announcing that it will begin impeachment proceedings against him on Monday.
General Ashfaq Pervez Kiyani, the army chief of staff, has publicly declared that he is neutral on Pakistan's domestic politics.
However, the former military aide to Mr Musharraf said: "The army is neutral, but is expecting him to resign. It will then influence his honourable, safe passage as the army's senior leadership would not want him to be punished.'' A senior official from the Pakistan's People's Party (PPP), a partner in the ruling coalition, said that the army had "whispered in Musharraf's ear that it is time to leave".
Impeachment
"Over the next few days they will make it clear to him that a protracted battle (against impeachment) is not in Pakistan's interests,'' the official added. He said his party instigated the impeachment because Mr Musharraf, a key ally in the US-led war on terrorism, had begun to use intelligence agencies to plot against the government. He said Mr Musharraf had tried to use a former PPP leader, Amin Fahim, to "instigate a rebellion within the party".
"Washington was still hoping that the PPP would work with Musharraf, but he was not working with us," he said. "America wants Pakistan to be effectively governed and so has realised that the domestic struggle has to be resolved." Mr Musharraf's allies said he would fight impeachment, if necessary by dissolving parliament.
Shujaat Hussain, the head of Mr Musharraf's Pakistan Muslim League-Q, said that dissolving parliament would be "unfortunate" but it may be "necessary". He said he had evidence that the move to impeach the president was made after the coalition partners struck a deal to hand the presidency to Asif Ali Zardari, the PPP leader and widower of Benazir Bhutto.
He said that Mr Zardari's candidacy would be opposed by the army. (© Daily Telegraph)
- Isambard Wilkinson in Islamabad
