World | Pakistan
People to decide Musharraf's fate
It is up to the parliament and people to decide about the future of Pakistani President Pervez Musharraf, said the leader of Pakistan Peoples Party, Asif Ali Zardari.
- By Shahid Hussain, Correspondent
- Published: 23:48 May 30, 2008
- Asif Ali Zardari, widower of slain opposition leader Benazir Bhutto and co-chairman of the ruling Pakistan Peoples Party, gestures during a news conference in Islamabad on Friday.
- Image Credit: Reuters
Islamabad: It is up to the parliament and people to decide about the future of President Pervez Musharraf, the leader of Pakistan Peoples Party Asif Ali Zardari said yesterday.
Zardari was responding to questions by reporters after attending a meeting of the Socialist International Asia-Pacific Committee here.
Asked when the beleaguered president could be removed, the PPP co-chairman replied with a smile: "Whenever the Pakistan parliament and the people want and decide so."
Musharraf, speaking at a dinner he hosted on Thursday for former Punjab governor Khaid Maqbool, dismissed reports about his differences with the army and his resignation as part of a malicious campaign to create unrest in the country.
More speculation
Media speculation that Musharraf was considering stepping down intensified after a lengthy meeting on Wednesday between the president and army chief General Ashfaq Parvez Kayani.
The president said the speculative reports had caused loss of billions of rupees as stocks plunged, causing panic among business circles. He said the trend must not continue as it was damaging for the economy and a threat to foreign investment.
"I believe in a policy of conciliation, rather than of confrontation," Musharraf said, adding that those spreading the rumours were not safeguarding the interests of Pakistan.
Musharraf said it was a routine meeting between him and General Kayani and added that he had already met the army chief six times in recent weeks.
Zardari earlier this month described Musharraf a "relict of the past" and said the ruling coalition was under tremendous pressure from the people to remove him. He later stated that his party would prefer to "walk him away, rather than impeach him away."
He said a decision on when to present it to the parliament would taken together with the ruling coalition partners including Pakistan Muslim League-N of former prime minister Nawaz Sharif after completion of the ongoing consultative process.
The proposed amendments seek to scrape presidential authority to dismiss government and transfer of key powers to the prime minister to turn the president into a figurehead.
Anger
Sharif on Wednesday lashed out at the president, saying that instead of giving him a safe passage Musharraf should be punished for "treason."
Former ruling PML-Q party's additional secretary Nisa Memon yesterday said the party would defend the president against intrigues to oust him.
Memon, a former information minister, told a news conference that the resignation rumours were meant to destabilise the democratic process. Musharraf had "fulfilled all promises."
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