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Pakistan President Pervez Musharraf resigns?

by Sanjay Jha | August 17, 2008 at 09:38 pm

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After the publication of a chargesheet against him embattled Pakistani President Pervez Musharraf will make a speech to the nation today and is likely to resign. Earlier a draft document was prepared for impeaching him and will be sent to leaders of the coalition government. It appears that the President has run out of options to save his chair and decided to call it a day to save the embarrassment of impeachment.

The Pakistani Parliament is all set to bring in a motion to impeach President Musharraf who, so far, has not accepted demands for his resignation. There have been back-channel negotiations between the two sides but they have not yielded any results. After failing to enlist the Army and America's support he is most likely to resign rather than face impeachment proceedings.

Pakistani President Pervez Musharraf, who is under pressure to resign before being impeached by parliament, is to address the nation, his spokesman says.
Rashid Qureshi would not say if the president intended to announce he was stepping down at 1300 (0700GMT).

On Sunday, Pakistan's defence minister said the governing coalition would file impeachment charges within two days.

Draft charges against the president include violation of the constitution and gross misconduct, officials say.

If Mr Musharraf chooses not to quit and to defend himself, as his spokesman insists he will, he would be the first president in Pakistan's history to be impeached.

The impeachment campaign was launched last week by leaders of the Pakistan People's Party (PPP) and the Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N), led by former Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif.