His last hope to cling onto power seems to have disappeared as well.
Military walks away from Musharraf
Pakistan’s powerful army is distancing itself from Pervez Musharraf, the president, according to high-ranking Pakistani officials and western diplomats, forcing the former military chief to consider resigning rather than face the humiliation of parliamentary impeachment.
Pakistan’s ruling coalition announced plans last week to impeach Mr Musharraf over his conduct in government before the restoration of democracy in February.
But speculation has been rife in the past week that the military is keen to avoid becoming tainted by the possible public humiliation of its former chief of staff.
The military has frequently intervened in Pakistani politics since independence in 1947, including the 1999 coup that brought Mr Musharraf to power. However,it has moved in recent days from its position of keeping open the option of further intervention to one of maintaining strict neutrality in the crisis.
“It’s curtains for President Musharraf,” said a government official, citing messages conveyed from senior military generals under the command of General Ashfaq Kiyani, the army chief, to Mr Musharraf, over the past two days.
A second government official also confirmed that the messages had been conveyed. Both spoke off the record, citing the sensitivity of the negotiations. Military analysts said that news of the military’s distancing itself from Mr Musharraf was not surprising.
“This military is telling President Pervez Musharraf: ‘Please step down and avoid further humiliation for yourself and also for the army,’ ” saidTalat Masood, a retired lieutenant general and respected commentator.
“The military has probably concluded that President Musharraf staying on as the president will only cause more divisions in Pakistan.”
In Karachi, in the heartland of the Pakistan People’s party, which heads the government, officials said backroom discussions had begun with the military to find a mutually acceptable successor to Mr Musharraf.
“In public we say the military must remain neutral. But in private we all know the military is a powerful player and they have to be on board,” said a PPP leader.
Among names mentioned on Wednesday as the ruling party’s candidate for the next president of Pakistan, Asfandyar Wali Khan, a nationalist politician from the North-West Frontier Province bordering Afghanistan, was given foremost by a government minister.
Western diplomats said the military’s move removed the most formidable source of support for the Pakistani leader.
The country has been ruled by the military for more than half its life as an independent state, making the generals some of the most powerful political figures in Pakistan.
“Even if by some luck President Musharraf survives and carries on, the military wants to make clear that it would have no responsibility for that outcome,” said one senior western diplomat in Islamabad.
Publicly, the Pakistan Muslim League-Quaid e Azam (PML-Q), which provided support to the previous military-backed government, continues to support Mr Musharraf.
Mushahid Husain, a senior PML-Q leader, said his party has urged Mr Musharraf to defend himself against impeachment but added that should he resign, the party would like him first to re*store judges he sacked last year and cancel the amnesty granted to politicians, including Asif Ali Zardari, the PPP co-chairman, over past corruption allegations.
Mr Zardari is the widower of Benazir Bhutto, whose government was dismissed in both 1990 and 1996 following accusations of corruption, which included accusations against her husband.
Mr Zardari has always claimed innocence and says that the charges were untrue and part of a vendetta launched by Ms Bhutto’s opponents.