Resign or face the consequences, Musharraf told
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So things are looking pretty bad for Musharraf, and the talk of the town is how great President Bush is no longer coming to the rescue! Thank you Bush! Read part in bold please.*
ISLAMABAD: The top PPP leadership has clearly told important Western diplomatic emissaries, who recently met the party’s Co-chairman Asif Ali Zardari in Islamabad, that if President Musharraf did not resign by Monday evening, the government would not be in a position to provide him a safe exit and he may be placed on the Exit Control List (ECL).
Deputy Chief of Mission of the US Embassy Peter Body called on Zardari along with two other important officials who had come from Washington to discuss Musharraf’s fate two days ago, competent sources told The News.
Though media reports claiming that US Ambassador Anne Patterson had met Asif Zardari proved to be incorrect as she was outside Pakistan and was expected to return late on Sunday, US Embassy sources confirmed Peter Body met the PPP leader as the charge d’Affaires in her absence.
Lou Fintor, press attache of the US embassy, told The News: “We cannot confirm or deny the meeting but we regularly meet with a variety of Pakistani officials, though we do not generally discuss the substance of these meetings.”
Diplomatic sources say the coalition leaders have cautioned Western capitals that any effort or appeal from their governments in favour of a dictator would not be welcomed. There are reports in Washington that an urgent message has been sent by the Pakistani authorities to the US president through unidentified diplomatic channels that Musharrafís name would be put on the ECL immediately after the impeachment and the new elected government would not be in a position to provide him with a safe exit.
Musharraf still has one safe option. He must resign from his office before 5pm on Monday (August 11). In that case, the media and the civil society would not press too hard to produce him in a court of law. If he is not willing to resign and the proceedings of parliament start at 5pm, he would have to face not only the impeachment motion but also trial on a number of criminal charges.
The top leaders of the new ruling coalition in Islamabad have informed some Western diplomats that they had solid evidence of corruption and embezzlement against the president and some of his close family members.
A large number of PPP members also want to investigate Musharraf for his alleged role in the assassination of Benazir Bhutto. One PPP member of the National Assembly is ready to show an e-mail of late Benazir Bhutto sent to CNN’s Wolf Blitzer that if anything happens to her, Musharraf should be held responsible.
Coalition leaders Asif Ali Zardari and Nawaz Sharif are determined to turn the most trusted friend of America in Pakistan into an example because they are sure that the Army is no longer supporting Musharraf.
They understand that if the Army is claiming to be neutral, nobody except Bush is in a position to save him. They would like to send a clear message to Bush, and may already have sent it through discreet channels, that his interference in the politics of Pakistan will spread more anti-Americanism in the only Muslim nuclear power in the world, so he should not call anyone in Pakistan to save Musharraf.
**But the key question as to why US President George W Bush is refusing to take phone calls by his ‘tight buddy’ General (retd) Pervez Musharraf, making him a really angry man, is being discussed at every private sitting and every drawing room in Islamabad. The president is not just disappointed with Bush, he is also not happy with some of his old friends in uniform.
Informed insiders say Musharraf has tried to call his American buddy many times in the last few days but in vain as Bush is not available. Why Bush is not coming on the line may be obvious to all those who know how Washington changes its policies, and turns its eyes away from people who are no longer in a position to serve its interests.
They know that Musharraf would not have good news of the arrest ofOsama bin Laden or Mullah Omer when he calls. He would only have some bad news about himself and would want to tell Bush that Al-Qaeda, the Taliban and the ruling coalition in Pakistan have united against him. He would ask Bush to help him in the name of the war against terror but the lines to the US president are not responding.**
A prominent leader of the pro-Musharraf Pakistan Muslim League-Q disclosed that Pervez Musharraf was disappointed not only with Bush but also with the Army leadership which is not coming out openly to rescue their “supreme commander” from the “dirty hands of ‘bloody civilians’.î
PML-Q sources claimed that initially Musharraf was thinking of resigning from office and wanted to become the president of the PML-Q. A lady member of the National Assembly started campaigning within the party three days ago that Chaudhry Shujaat Hussain should resign from the party presidentship and offer to make Musharraf head of the party which was actually created in 2002 by Musharraf with the help of the ISI. A big majority of the PML-Q leaders rejected this proposal and advised Chaudhry Shujaat Hussain to stay away from Musharraf who was no longer an asset but a liability.
Another friend of Musharraf recently proposed to him to join the Muttahida Qaumi Movement (MQM) of Altaf Hussain. This party is capable of providing him some political cover. Some of his close relatives are already reported to be MQM members.
This MQM link of Musharraf was reinforced by Benazir Bhutto as well when she wrote in her autobiography: “I first encountered Musharraf when he acted as a Turkish interpreter during visits by the Turkish military. I declined to make him my military secretary. We initially refused him a promotion because of his suspected links with the MQM. The final time I recall meeting with him was the most important, when in 1996 he presented to me a war scenario for Kashmir.”
One thing is clear that the main strength of Musharraf was not his enlightened moderation but his military uniform and after taking off this uniform he is now a burden for everyone. It was Musharraf who assigned General Ashfaq Pervez Kayani to get in touch with Benazir Bhutto two years ago when Kayani was DG of the ISI.
Kayani realised soon that the involvement of Army officers in politics was not good for the institution and for the country. Though Musharraf also said the same thing but his actions always contradicted his words.
He is no more Army chief but he is still living in the Army House of Rawalpindi. He has declared it as the President’s Camp Office. He is continuously meeting leaders of the PML-Q there even after their humiliating defeat in the February elections. He never respected the verdict of the people expressed through the ballot. His “forced” stay in the Army House is generally not liked by many Army officers.
Many officers think that Musharraf’s meetings with anti-government politicians in the Army House are meant to give the impression that the Army is still with him, which is not a fact.
According to reliable sources, Army circles have informally sent messages to Musharraf that his time was over and he must resign now in the “supreme national interest”.
Many Army officers support the non-political approach of their new chief and think that Musharraf was their leader for eight years due to his rank and position, not because of his person. As he has lost the rank, he must leave the position of president.
One of Musharraf’s close friends, who is also an important officer, recently advised him privately that though he may still be very popular in Washington and New Delhi but he is no more popular in his own country and now is the time that he must resign as the Army could not support him for another five years. Army officers want a total de-politicisation of their institution and want to contribute to the making of a new democratic Pakistan.
previously musharraf was referred to you as some sort of khalifah acting in the itnerests of islam and pakistan.