Pakistan’s President Pervez Musharraf Resigns

Pakistan’s President Pervez Musharraf announced his resignation in a live telecast to his countrymen today. He warned that the country was going down the hill. He said would send his formal resignation today itself, thus saving himself from the humiliation of the impeachment proceedings against him.

This follows hectic backroom parleys/bargaining between powerful diplomats from US, Britain and Saudi Arabia and the ruling political leaders in Pakistan. Now the question is: Will Musharraf stay on in Pakistan or seek a sanctuary elsewhere? While we await the answer, here is my earlier post…

(Workers of political parties danced on the streets and the Karachi stock exchange shot up as Musharraf announced his resignation, reports Reuters.)

The departure of the former army chief, who seized power in a bloodless coup in 1999, now turns the spotlight on the coalition leaders Asif Ali Zardari, widower of Benazir Bhutto, and former prime minister Nawaz Sharif. The important/ticklish question is who would replace Pervez Musharraf as President of Pakistan?

Musharraf recently faced major reverses when Pakistan’s four provincial parliaments passed resolutions, with overwhelming backing, declaring him unfit for office. The provincial votes were symbolic. It had become clear that the ruling coalition now has the two-thirds majority needed to impeach him.

Musharraf is the first president forced out by a civilian government, signaling the reticence of the army to lend support to their one-time commander in chief. “As Pakistan’s fourth military ruler, he clung to power in a nation that has been governed by the armed forces for more than half its 61 years,” says Bloomberg.

” ‘This is the opportune moment for the government now,’ said Alok Bansal, an analyst at the Institute of Defence Studies and Analyses in New Delhi. ‘Unless they show tenacity now, the coalition may splinter’.” More here…

Here is the chronology of Musharraf rule…Please click here…

The New York Times has an interesting article how Musharraf walked a tightrope. “Musharraf continued to provide cover to the Taliban, but still managed to convince the Americans for many years that it was not a double game…The feat was so skilful that Mr. Musharraf won more than $10 billion in American military assistance for his army, as well as unannounced covert aid.”
More here… And here…

A direct indictment of the US administration and the US media in its blind support for almost a decade to a dictator whose role was suspect right from the beginning when the so-called “war-on-terror” was launched by his protector/mentor in the White House.

It is becoming clear that the US administration’s great blunders in international relations are posing a serious threat to peace and economy. Now with Musharraf out, will those guilty in the US ever be held accountable? But will it be fair to single out a few individuals when the entire establishment stood as mute witness all these years?

India (and now Afghanistan) had been complaining about the dangerous role of Pakistan’s spy agency ISI in fomenting terrorism in the two countries for years. But it was downplayed in the US media, and the US administration turned a blind eye. More here…

More earlier posts here…