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Pakistan’s beleaguered President, Pervez Musharraf has been given an ultimatum to quit from his office by the ruling coalition. A spokesman for the Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP), which leads the ruling coalition in the Parliament, warned that the former dictator would face impeachment if he did not go by himself. Pressure has mounted on the former general after Asif Ali Zardari, denounced Musharraf as a ‘relic of the past’, standing between the people and the democracy.
The ultimatum has been finally issued to Musharraf after suggestions that the former general was negotiating terms under which, if he agreed to go quietly, he would be granted immunity from prosecution for overthrowing the government of Nawaz Sharif in 1999. In a television speech in the last week, Zardari declined to offer Musharraf any support but said that he was committed to ‘dialogue, patience and dignity’. Musharraf’s exit is very likely to bring in the forefront PPP loyalist and favorite Makhdoom Amin Fahim.
