Xinhua : Presidential spokesman: Musharraf not to resign

Presidential spokesman: Musharraf not to resign

August 18, 2008


ISLAMABAD, Aug. 18 (Xinhua) -- Pakistani President Pervez Musharraf will not resign while addressing the nation on Monday afternoon, said presidential spokesman Rashid Qureshi.

The reports on Musharraf's resignation "are nonsense," Qureshi told Xinhua via telephone.

"President Musharraf will address the nation, only two hours from now," Qureshi said. But Qureshi did not say what Musharraf would say at the address.

Musharraf is facing an impeachment pressure from the ruling coalition.

Pakistan's ruling coalition parties on Aug. 7 announced that they would launch impeachment against the president. The speculation about Musharraf's resignation has mounted since then.

PTI : Musharraf to address nation, to make "important announcements"

Musharraf to address nation, to make "important announcements"

Press Trust of India | August 18, 2008

Islamabad, Aug 18 (PTI) Amid intense speculation that President Pervez Musharraf would step down before Pakistan's ruling coalition begins impeachment proceedings against him, the beleaguered ex-military ruler will address the nation this afternoon.

Musharraf, who held consultations with his legal and political advisors this morning, will address the nation at 1 pm, presidential spokesman Maj Gen (retired) Rashid Qureshi said. Other sources said Musharraf is expected to make "some important announcements" during his speech.

Reports for the past few days, have suggested that the increasingly isolated Musharraf will step down before the PPP-led coalition launches the impeachment process against him in the parliament this week.

The coalition has finalised its draft impeachment motion and a chargesheet against Musharraf and documents are being vetted by the top leaders of the ruling alliance.

Several top leaders of the coalition, including PPP co-chairman Asif Ali Zardari and Foreign Minister Shah Mahmood Qureshi, had asked Musharraf to quit or face impeachment.

However, presidential spokesman Qureshi had insisted that Musharraf would not quit. Musharraf's aides have held talks with the government over the past few days on giving him indemnity and safe passage in the event of his resignation.

Foreign interlocutors, including British diplomat Mark Lyall Grant and Saudi intelligence chief Prince Muqrin bin Abdul-Aziz, have visited Islamabad and held talks with Musharraf and the ruling coalition to find a way out of the political impasse.

It is still not clear whether Musharraf intends to remain in Pakistan after his possible resignation. Sources said while the PPP is amenable to him leaving the country following his resignation, the PML-N and its chief Nawaz Sharif are opposed to the idea.

AP : Musharraf to speak as foes plan impeachment moves

Musharraf to speak as foes plan impeachment moves

By STEPHEN GRAHAM | August 19, 2008

ISLAMABAD, Pakistan (AP) — Pakistan's ruling coalition finalized impeachment charges against President Pervez Musharraf on Sunday and a government minister said they could be filed as early as this week if he does not resign first.

Musharraf planned to address the nation Monday. Spokesman Rashid Qureshi would not say if the president planned to announce that he was stepping down.

Musharraf has been holding out against intense pressure to quit from political foes who swept February elections and relegated the stalwart U.S. ally to the sidelines.

With Musharraf's utility fading, the West appears less concerned with his ultimate fate than with how the crisis is affecting the new civilian government's halting efforts to fight terrorism and growing economic woes.

A committee of Pakistan's ruling coalition on Sunday finalized a list of impeachment charges against Musharraf after five days of talks, Information Minister Sherry Rehman said.

If coalition leaders give a green light, "we will be presenting (the list) as part of a resolution and charge sheet in the joint houses and, God willing, that should happen this week," Rehman said.

The coalition is confident it will easily secure the required two-thirds majority in a joint session of the upper and lower houses of parliament to oust Musharraf.

They argue Musharraf should quit now to spare the nation from a divisive political showdown.

The coalition officials released no details of the charges, but a senior coalition leader, Sen. Raza Rabbani, said the charges included "a plethora of actions" taken by Musharraf in "gross violation" of the constitution.

"He should tender his resignation, pack up his bags, and go," Rabbani told reporters after the committee meeting in Islamabad. "Whatever little moral authority was left has now been completely eroded."

The officials were vague about the timing — leaving space for more back-channel talks aimed at smoothing a possible Musharraf exit and avoiding an unprecedented impeachment process.

The president has acknowledged that his imposition of temporary emergency rule last year was unconstitutional. He used the time to fire dozens of senior judges and ward off legal challenges to him continuing as president.

However, he insists that he defeated a conspiracy to derail Pakistan's return to democracy and acted exclusively in the national interest.

Qureshi reiterated Sunday that Musharraf would soldier on.

"This thing must be clear to everyone that President Musharraf is not going to resign, period," Qureshi told The Associated Press.

Still, some current and former supporters suggest that Musharraf might yield in return for guarantees he will not be prosecuted or forced into exile. Officials say Western and Arab emissaries have been in talks with the main parties.

Qureshi said he was not aware of any secret talks.

Some analysts point to the lack of overt support from either the army or Washington — Musharraf's main props during his eight years in power — in predicting that he will ultimately quit.

Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice said Sunday that Washington's focus was on working with the democratic government to counter terrorism and help its economy.

While Musharraf was a "good ally" who "kept his word" on ending military rule, whether he should resign "is a matter for Pakistan to determine," Rice told Fox News television.

When asked if Musharraf would be granted asylum in the U.S., Rice said, "This is an issue that is not on the table."

Going after the unpopular and marginalized Musharraf has allowed Pakistan's coalition to deflect attention from problems such as inflation and Islamic extremism raging across the northwest.

The coalition includes the party of Nawaz Sharif, whose government was ousted in Musharraf's 1999 coup and who is calling for the ex-general to be tried for treason — a charge that can be punished with the death penalty.

The Pakistan People's Party — perhaps mindful that the army and Washington would frown on a political lynching — has taken a milder tone.

Rehman said the party would shun the "politics of revenge" that has scarred Pakistan's 61-year history.

"We want stability in the country, we want political stability," Rehman said.

Musharraf dominated Pakistan for eight years after the 1999 coup and insists he made the right choice in siding with the United States against the Taliban and al-Qaida.

However, many Pakistanis blame rising violence in their country on the closeness of that alliance and are deeply suspicious of U.S. motives in the region.

Musharraf's popularity sank to new lows in 2007 when he ousted the judges and imposed emergency rule in November — moves coalition officials say were illegal and could be used to justify impeachment.

Associated Press writers Zarar Khan and Asif Shahzad in Islamabad contributed to this report.

AFP : Pakistan's Musharraf to address nation amid resignation rumours

Pakistan's Musharraf to address nation amid resignation rumours

August 18, 2008

ISLAMABAD (AFP) — Pakistani President Pervez Musharraf is to address the nation on Monday afternoon, his spokesman told AFP, while dismissing rumours that he had resigned to avoid impeachment.

"The president will address the nation at 1:00pm (0700 GMT)," said retired Major General Rashid Qureshi, the chief presidential spokesman.

Asked about local television reports that Musharraf had already resigned in the face of attempts by the governing coalition to impeach him, the spokesman replied, "It is all nonsense."

Musharraf, a key ally in the US-led "war on terror", has other options available apart from resignation, including his powers as president to dissolve parliament and even to declare a state of emergency.

Either move would require the support of the powerful army -- which Musharraf led until November last year -- but the military has so far remained silent on his fate.

The coalition, headed by the party of slain former premier Benazir Bhutto, said on Sunday that it had drawn up impeachment charges against Musharraf and would lodge them in parliament this week.

Officials say that Musharraf's aides have been in talks with the coalition, brokered by Saudi Arabia, the United States and Britain, to allow him to quit in return for an indemnity for his previous actions.

Pakistani Foreign Minister Shah Mehmood Qureshi, said it appeared that Musharraf had "seen the writing on the wall" but did not say if he knew what the president was planning to announce.

"He is a wise man, he is a very experienced man and he has seen the writing on the wall," Qureshi told Dawn News television when asked if he had confirmation that Musharraf had resigned.

"He has seen the sentiments of not just the elected representatives, but various institutions... who all asked him to move in a particular way and do not destabilise things here," he said.

Farhatullah Babar, a spokesman for Bhutto's Pakistan People's Party, said: "His political fate has been sealed. Whatever he says doesn't matter."

Musharraf seized power in a bloodless military coup in 1999 and then imposed a state of emergency in November last year to push his re-election to another five-year term through the Supreme Court.

His popularity first slumped after he tried to sack the country's chief justice in March 2007 and his political allies were trounced in elections in February.

Speculation over Musharraf's fate intensified overnight when US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice said that granting asylum to Musharraf was not currently under consideration by the United States.

"That's not an issue on the table, and I just want to keep our focus on what we must do with the democratic government of Pakistan," Rice told Fox News when asked if Washington would give the Pakistan president asylum.

Western allies want Pakistan to resolve the crisis over Musharraf so it can deal with the fight against Taliban and Al-Qaeda militants in the tribal areas bordering Afghanistan, where nearly 500 people have died in the past week.

The government is also struggling to deal with a severe economic crunch.

WaPo : Pakistan's President Musharraf Faces Impeachment

Pakistan's President Musharraf Faces Impeachment

By Candace Rondeaux | Washington Post Foreign Service | August 7, 2008

ISLAMABAD, Aug. 7---Pakistan's ruling coalition parties agreed Thursday to impeach President Pervez Musharraf, setting up a major showdown between the former military chief and the newly elected civilian government.

Leaders of the ruling Pakistan People's Party and the Pakistan Muslim League-N faction called for Musharraf for a no-confidence vote in parliament and said they could begin official impeachment proceedings against the president in the next few days.

Pakistan People's Party co-chair Asif Ali Zardari said Musharraf's nearly nine-year rule had thrown the country into turmoil and that the time had come to break the six-month-long political deadlock that has paralyzed Pakistan since the civilian-dominated coalition was swept to power in parliamentary elections on Feb. 18.

"His policies have weakened the federation and eroded the trust of the nation in national institutions," Zardari said at a press conference held here with Pakistan Muslim League-N faction leader and former prime minister Nawaz Sharif. "The coalition believes it has become imperative to move for impeachment under Article 47 against Gen. Musharraf."

In world circles, Musharraf has been viewed alternately as a political pariah and bold statesman in a region that has suffered instability for more than three decades. His profile rose considerably after he became one of the first Muslim leaders to ally himself with the United States after the terrorist attacks of Sept. 11, 2001.

He has been a key ally in the U.S. led war in Afghanistan, providing operational bases and logistical support for the U.S. military and arresting al-Qaeda figures with Pakistan's borders. Yet, doubts have lingered about the sincerity of his loyalty to the U.S. mission. Recently, Pakistan has come under heavy pressure from the Bush administration to rein in Islamist insurgents in its tribal areas along the Afghan border, while Pakistan's powerful intelligence agencies have been accused of assisting Taliban forces in Afghanistan.

The coalition has called for members of Pakistan's four provincial assemblies to move for a vote of confidence on Musharraf's tenure in office. Impeachment proceedings would be a separate. A combined two-thirds majority vote in both the National Assembly and Senate would be required to oust him from the presidency.

Should the coalition succeed in doing that, the move would be a first in the nuclear-armed nation's 61-year history to remove a head of state through this rare parliamentary measure.

In a sign of the seriousness of the crisis, Musharraf canceled at the last minute a scheduled trip to Beijing for the opening ceremonies of the summer Olympics. The coalition government announced that Prime Minister Yousef Raza Gillani would fly to Beijing instead.

Musharraf, who stepped down as army chief in December, remained silent on Thursday, as the country braced for the possibility that the president could move to dissolve parliament under a controversial amendment adopted during his rule. The president met with a top constitutional expert presumably to discuss his options, according to local news reports, and was expected to meet with Gen. Ashfaq Kiyani, chief of the Pakistani military, and top officers of the Pakistani army.

Sharif and Zardari announced their decision to oust Musharraf about three months after Sharif pulled his party out of government cabinet positions in protest over Zardari's refusal to immediately reinstate some 60 judges fired by the president last year.

A long-simmering dispute over how to restore the judges threatened to permanently divide the two ruling parties and brought the country to a virtual standstill amidst one of the worst economic crises in its history.

Sharif, whose party drew strong support at the polls in part because of its calls for restoration of the judiciary, held that a simple executive order was sufficient to reinstate the judges. But Zardari's party insisted on adopting a complex package of constitutional amendments to restore the judiciary, a move that would have required unprecedented political consensus between several parties across an increasingly unstable Pakistan.

The impasse was apparently broken in several days of marathon meetings between coalition party members.

Speaking together Thursday for the first time in months at Zardari's family home in Islamabad, Zardari and Sharif said they will push for the restoration of Pakistan's fractured judiciary and bring deposed Supreme Court Chief Justice Iftikhar Mohammad Chaudhry back to the bench after Musharraf is impeached.

Musharraf, 64, came to power in October 1999 after mounting a military coup against Sharif.

His political fortunes shifted dramatically last year after he suspended Chaudhry from the bench. The move prompted a political conflagration that led to dozens of clashes. Musharraf lost further political capital after he ordered a security forces to raid the historic Red Mosque in Islamabad, where militants had holed up. More than 100 people died in ensuing fighting.

New challenges to Musharraf's rule mounted in November after the president declared a state of emergency and placed Chaudhry and some 60 other judges under house arrest. Public support for Musharraf plummeted following the Dec. 27 assassination of former prime minister and opposition leader Benazir Bhutto.

Yet, Musharraf still appears to draw significant support from within his Pakistan Muslim League-Q party. Tariq Azim Khan, a leading spokesman for the party, said he expects energetic negotiations to begin in the wake of the impeachment announcement. But he said he is confident that the party will largely stand by the president in what could be the defining moment of his political career.

"Rightly or wrongly, people may not agree with his politics but all those who voted for him in parliament should stand behind him," Azim said.

Special correspondent Shaiq Hussain contributed to this report.

Business First : House Democrats begin impeachment process for Dann

House Democrats begin impeachment process for Dann

Business First of Columbus | May 13, 2008

Democrats in the Ohio House of Representatives have filed to impeach Attorney General Marc Dann.

The House Democratic Caucus on Tuesday filed nine articles of impeachment against Dann, many of which point to alleged instances of neglect that legislators contend occurred in Dann's sworn testimony during an independent investigation into sexual harassment allegations involving a former staffer and other statements Ohio's top lawyer has made.

The move comes after a torrent of calls for the official's resignation in light of a sexual-harassment probe that led to the firing or departure of three top staffers and Dann's own admission of an extra-marital affair with an employee. Anthony Gutierrez, Dann's general services director and the subject of the harassment probe, was fired along with spokesman Leo Jennings. Ed Simpson, the office's chief of policy and administration, resigned rather than being fired after the report found he didn't properly investigate the harassment allegations.

"We have identified a pattern of misconduct that we believe rises to the level of impeachable offenses," Reps. Dan Dodd, D-Hebron, Jennifer Garrison, D-Marietta, and Mark Okey, D-Carrollton, said in a joint statement. "We promised the people of Ohio to end a culture of corruption that existed in the past, and we are fulfilling that promise by cleaning our own house when events and circumstances warrant."

The articles of impeachment, listed below, are based on the following allegations:

* Malfeasance and improper exercise of authority: Dann obstructed the sexual-harassment investigation.

* Malfeasance: Dann intentionally made misleading statements under oath.

* Nonfeasance and gross neglect of duty: Dann neglected to perform official duties and admitted to not being competent or qualified to perform them.

* Nonfeasance and neglect (four related charges): Dann failed to "exercise due care" in the office's administration because he knew or should have known his conduct contributed to what the probe called a "hostile work environment;" he failed to exercise due care to ensure safety and security of state property; he failed to investigate and prohibit improper use of state property, of which he had knowledge or should have.

* Gross neglect of duty: Dann undermined the integrity and efficiency of his office, betraying the public's trust.

* Gross immorality: Dann committed immoral "acts of gross immorality," which he knew or should have known would undermine the effectiveness of the office.