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Avoiding Impeachment in Pakistan

President Musharraf Announces Resignation

Pakistan's President Pervez Musharraf has given in to pressure to resign before being impeached by parliament. He told the nation in a live TV address that he was leaving his future "in the hands of the nation."

In the end, he jumped before he was pushed. Pakistan's President Pervez Musharraf on Monday announced his resignation in the face of an impending impeachment motion by the ruling coalition government.

The former army chief and close ally of the United States had seen his popularity plummet over the past 18 months and has suffered increased political isolation since the February elections brought his enemies to power.

"After consultations with legal advisers and close political supporters and on their advice, I'm taking the decision of resigning," he said in a live TV address to the nation on Monday. "My resignation will go to the speaker of the National Assembly today." The president insisted that anything he did was for the national interest.

Pakistan's ruling coalition government had announced on Aug. 8 that it planned to launch impeachment proceedings against Musharraf. The president had stepped down as head of the army last November and his old comrades were notably silent about the impeachment proceedings, which were to focus on charges of violating the constitution and misconduct.

The former general took power in a bloodless coup in 1999, ousting the government of Nawaz Sharif, whose party is now a member of the coalition government led by the Pakistan People's Party of assassinated former Prime Minister Benazir Bhutto.

Musharraf became a key ally of the United States following the terrorist attacks of Sept. 11, 2001. However, this policy was deeply unpopular in the country and many Pakistanis have blamed the rise in violence in the country on that alliance.

Musharraf saw his popularity further eroded after he imposed temporary emergency rule last year and fired dozens of senior judges to ward off legal challenges to his presidency. He has since admitted that the move was unconstitutional.

Officials from Saudi Arabia, as well as the United States and United Kingdom, had been involved in negotiations to ease the way for Musharraf's resignation. Coalition officials said the president was seeking immunity from prosecution but he said in his speech he was asking for nothing. "I don't want anything from anybody. I have no interest. I leave my future in the hands of the nation and people," he said.

On Sunday, US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice said that Musharraf had been a "good ally" but declined to say if he would receive asylum in the US if he stepped down.

It was clear that the West had tired of Musharraf, who in an increasingly unstable Pakistan came to be seen as part of the problem. And the prolonged jockeying and uncertainty over his position was hurting Pakistan's financial markets and raising concerns that the coalition government was being distracted from dealing with terrorism and economic problems. Last week a US diplomat in Islamabad told SPIEGEL: "He would be doing us all a big favor if he went now."

smd/ap/reuters/SPIEGEL