The Telegraph reports: Pervez Musharraf 'will exit in days, not months'

Society Pakistan & World Affairs
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The Telegraph’s sources close to Musharraf seem to be suggesting he’s thinking of leaving peacefully rather than have Pakistan subjected to a President vs Parliament power struggle.

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/main.jhtml?xml=/news/2008/02/24/wpak124.xml

Pervez Musharraf is considering stepping down as president of Pakistan rather than waiting to be forced out by his victorious opponents, aides have told The Sunday Telegraph.

One close confidante said that the president believed he had run out of options after three of the main parties who triumphed in last week’s poll announced they would form a coalition government together, and also pledged to reinstate the country’s chief justice and 60 other judges sacked by Mr Musharraf in November.

“He has already started discussing the exit strategy for himself,” a close friend said. “I think it is now just a matter of days and not months because he would like to make a graceful exit on a high.”

According to senior aides, Mr Musharraf wants to avoid a power struggle with the newly elected parliament, in which his opponents will be close to the two-thirds majority needed to impeach him and remove him from office.

“He may have made many mistakes, but he genuinely tried to build the country and he doesn’t want to destroy it just for the sake of his personal office,” said an official close to the president.

Mr Musharraf, who stepped down as head of the army late last year, had called for a harmonious coalition after the defeat of his party - which won just 38 out of 272 national assembly seats in last Sunday’s elections - but his political rivals have demanded he go.

Officials said he had considered resigning immediately after the election results were known, but had been persuaded by party loyalists that his sudden departure could precipitate a crisis.

In an article published last week he insisted that he would serve out his five-year presidential term.

Behind the scenes, his staff attempted to broker an agreement with Asif Zardari, who became leader of the main Pakistan People’s Party (PPP) following the assassination of his wife, Benazir Bhutto.

Yet despite pressure from America, which has relied on Mr Musharraf’s support for its war on terror, Mr Zardari refused to strike a deal.

He declined despite also claiming to have been threatened by Mr Musharraf’s allies that the government would revive long-standing corruption charges against him.

“I have seen these jails and this is not something new to me,” said Mr Zardari. "I fought all these fake cases instituted against me with courage and never disappointed anyone by asking for a pardon.

“I’m ready to fight it out again, and will never disappoint anyone.”

PPP officials said that any deal with Mr Musharraf would have dented the party’s public support and it was better to try to govern with the help of the other main parties.

“It doesn’t make any sense for us to sink with the dying man,” said Nisar Khuhro, a senior PPP leader, referring to Mr Musharraf.

Jamil Soomro, a PPP spokesman, said: “He has betrayed everyone since the very outset and we have no guarantee that he would not betray us once he stabilised his position.”

Mr Musharraf’s popular support drained away over the past year as he interfered with the independence of the courts, imposed a state of emergency, restricted the media and postponed *elections.

Shortages of basic foodstuffs and unreliable gas and electricity supplies have left him more vulnerable now than at any time since he seized power in a bloodless coup in October 1999.

A coalition of the anti-Musharraf parties - the PPP, PML(N) and ANP - would govern with 211 MPs, just short of the 228 needed for the two thirds majority that would allow them to launch impeachment proceedings against the president. They could, however, win support from other smaller parties and independent members, which would leave the former general in a precarious position.

If Mr Musharraf decides to dig his heels in, the opposition parties plan to remove his constitutional powers to dissolve the assembly.

“I think his game is over but if he was able to survive for any reason, he would be like a dead fish, sitting and rotting the presidency,” said Khwaja Asif, a senior leader of the Pakistan Muslim League.

The frontrunner to take over as prime minister in the new administration is Makhdoom Amin Fahim, the widely respected vice-president of the PPP.

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Re: The Telegraph reports: Pervez Musharraf ‘will exit in days, not months’

If it doesn’t give accurate number of days then that is not going to satisfy our brother Aalsi, he is so impatiently wait for that day :naraz:

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Re: The Telegraph reports: Pervez Musharraf ‘will exit in days, not months’

:hehe:

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Re: The Telegraph reports: Pervez Musharraf 'will exit in days, not months'

Not sure how reliable this report is. Unnamed sources generally mean the report is a figment of the imagination of an over-enthusiastic journalist sitting on his desk. Considering that Zardari has shown no overt enthusism for removing Mushy right away, not sure why Mushy will be so depressed right now so as to contemplate leaving voluntarily. Though, if hypothetically he leaves right away, and replaced by the Chairman Senate (who is he??), he may be able to salvage some rahi sahi izzat amongst the people of Pakistan.

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Re: The Telegraph reports: Pervez Musharraf 'will exit in days, not months'

Agar kuch bachi kuchi izzat ka khiyal hota wo janab-e-aali ja chukay hotay abhi tak.

I am sure he is going to try his best to remain in office as long as possible and keep on committing blunders one after the other to accomplish it.

hopeless ...

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Re: The Telegraph reports: Pervez Musharraf ‘will exit in days, not months’

Good. I hope there are enough Pakistanis with pitchforks and dandas waiting outside to “escort” Musharraf out of the country once and for all. :hehe:

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Re: The Telegraph reports: Pervez Musharraf 'will exit in days, not months'

Popularity is not a good yardstick to measure righteousness. It’s very easy to defame someone, bad mouth, bash, mock and ridicule someone. When a lot of people keep saying the same thing over and over, it becomes a part of the psych. At that point, human brain stops rationalizing and starts believing whatever it is that the loudest voice is saying.

A prime example of this phenomenon would be when Rasool Allah first brought Islam to Arab. People went above and beyond in ridiculing him, causing him mental and physical pain. They threw rocks at him so much so that he got severely wounded and his shoe got filled with blood. They casted spell on him, threw garbage on him, they used whatever tactics they could come up with in order to denounce and disgrace him.

Was he popular? No

Was he on the right path, or was he what the majority of Arab was projecting him to be? Undoubtedly he is the most virtuous human ever sent to earth.

Conversely, people like Firoun, Hitler, Yazeed, etc were very popular and well-respected among their men but were they just, fair, and true?

We have subtle hints and messages all around us to guide us in the right direction, but we willingly ignore them and get lured by what is loud and overpowering. Mob mentality can be useful for life-threatning situations, but most of the time it's much more detrimental then it's useful.

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Re: The Telegraph reports: Pervez Musharraf 'will exit in days, not months'

^ its okay to support Musharraf but please no bhashan of comparing him with Prophet PBUH.

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Re: The Telegraph reports: Pervez Musharraf 'will exit in days, not months'

If there is any truth to this, it will be a very good thing to happen in the current circumstances. Not only that, but my respect for Musharraff will increase several folds.

I was not a Musharraff supporter when he decided to become the CE of the country. I was not a Musharraff supporter even when he deposed Nawaz, although I fully supported the action he took to remove the ameer-ul-momeneed.

I became a supporter after a couple of years with the positive direction Pakistan was taking. I supported his efforts to try and bring peace between India and Pakistan, try and resolve the Kashmir issue, try and build dams without any political pressure, try and root out political dynasties from Pakistan and supported his stance against fundamentalist militants. I also supported Musharraffs action against the chief justice, who was concentrating on becoming a political leader insted of resolving cases that masses were sufferring from most.

Anyways about five months back I came to realize that it was time for Musharraff to go because Pakistan was sufferring due to the infighting and Musharaff seemed to be losing grip on affairs. The negative sentiment against him was too high.

I do appreciate his achievements and his dedication towards improving Pakistan. I do think that this man was sincere.

I hope he leaves peacefully. People will realize years later how good he was. It is unfortunate that we brought the same corrupt leaders back to power in our country. I hope those leaders act better this time and just like Musharraff was held accountable by the masses these leaders should be checked by the population with the same zeal.

Pakistan Zindabad.

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Re: The Telegraph reports: Pervez Musharraf 'will exit in days, not months'

That was just an example, but it's your perception mold it whichever way you like :)

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Re: The Telegraph reports: Pervez Musharraf 'will exit in days, not months'

Rashid Qureshi denied it on ARYOne few hours ago.

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Re: The Telegraph reports: Pervez Musharraf 'will exit in days, not months'

Slight correction: He.

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Re: The Telegraph reports: Pervez Musharraf 'will exit in days, not months'

There is no tax on wishful thinking, doing propaganda or spreading misinformation :)

As for above article, it seems that whoever is doing propaganda does not even know ground realities in Pakistan and number game of Pakistan Assemblies. Well, if President decides to step down than it is upto him. Nevertheless, there is no constitutional way anything can be done neither it is necessary. If there are many who want President to step down, there are many who would like him to stay and kick governments if they do corruption or wrong governance.

First of all, PML(Q) is a party but there are many individuals from Past assembly who are in President camp, but they did not contested election on PML(Q) ticket under Ch Shujjat and contested election as independent and some even joined PML(N) and PPP to contest election (if any voting may happen against Musharraf, they are most likely to abstain).

Second thing is numbers in Assembly. Presently 265 NA results are announced and party position is:
PPP = 87
PMLN = 68
PMLQ =42
PMLF = 4
NPP = 2
PPP(S) =1
BNP =1
MQM =19
ANP = 9
Ind = 26
MMA (almost all JUI seats) = 6

In above parties, other than PMLN, none were whole heartedly against President. Actually PPP outside and inside the parliament, was more cooperative to President than PML(Q) and it was believed that in most cases, PPP along with MMA was playing B team to President. Fact is that, even though PPP was not in government, PPP supported each and every policy of President Musharraf and even though PML(Q) was ruling under Musharraf, opposed many of Musharraf policies, that was mostly left to the centre, same as what is suppose to be PPP ideal policies (minus PPP corruption).

As for official alliances, PML(Q) was ruling different provinces and Islamabad in alliance with MQM, PML(F), NPP, PPP(S), MMA (Baluchistan) and I believe even with ANP (had 0 seats in NA, but they were cooperating in Senate and in NWFP as opposition with PML(Q)). Actually, what we see on surface is much different than what could be truth, as NS, SS, Zardari, BB, all of them were in Pakistan with consent of President and it is believed that they all made deal of one sort or another.

Hence, in reality only party vocal against President is PMLN (at least on surface). What is their position in Senate? PMLN has 3 senators. PPP has 9 senators (together, PMLN and PPP have 12 out of 100 senators). MMA has 18 senators. Rest of the senators except one or two more, are mostly pro-president.

Now, let see the situation: Even if PPP and PMLN joins together, they do not have 2/3 majority to do anything to change constitution or any laws that exists at present (even if ANP and MMA joins them, still they could not make the numbers required). Actually, they could not even reinstate Judges with seats they have (unless President just let them do that).

Now for argument sake, even if they had 2/3 majority in NA than also once NA approves any law, senate has to pass it with majority. There is no way anyone can pass any law from senate as pro-President parties have majority in Senate.

Even though only party that is in reality against President is PMLN, let assume that PPP, PMLN, MMA, ANP, all are opposed to President. Now hypothetically, let say that parties oppose to President wants to impeach President than they would not need 228 votes, they would actually need 295 votes from combined house of NA and Senate. Even though these parties together do not make up two-third majority in NA, still let say they do, still, to get two-third majority in combined house is going to be completely impossible.

Let say that by some miracle it becomes possible that they found 2/3 majority in combined house, still there is one big hurdle, that is, before any impeachment happens President can use 52-B to dissolve the parliament. Parties can go to Supreme Court and there is no way they can make supreme court give verdict in their favour as present Supreme court has no grudge against President and constitution allows President to dissolve the parliament.

So, parties may huff and puff, but there is no way they can do anything and for President to step down, it would be his choice. But then why he should step down? If parties get elected and want to loot and plunder, all new party in power would start looking for their man as President. That should not happen as President has to be there to see if parties are behaving and not doing any corruption. If Parties desire that President should step down does not mean that President should really step down.

As for USA and Europe backing President, there are reasons for that too. They do not back someone that does not have any thing that cause west to back that person. For instance, West won't back irrelevant person for any post. They are backing Musharraf because they know that Musharraf has support of Army and establishment plus good number of people in masses, and thus can do what he likes. On the other hand, if they would not back him, still they have nothing that they can do. If such backing within Pakistan was not there supporting Musharraf, they would have never backed President.

As for public support, I do not think that it has waned. Parties pro-President, including PML(Q) did get a good proportion of votes. That is different matter that some created circumstances (paid by past goons), especially in Punjab cities, plus parties in opposition contested with support of each other did made some difference. It was funny how PPP, JI, MMA, and TI votes were falling for PMLN where it was needed, and anti-government PML votes along with JI, MMA and TI were falling for PPP. In such situation, I think that PML has done quite good.

Well, other than cities in Northern Punjab and Punjab closely affiliated areas in NWFP, nowhere PML(Q) did bad. For instance, this election has shown that PMLN got reduced to Punjab Municipal League as it got no seats outside cities of Punjab or some votes in eastern NWFP close to Islamabad. Whereas, PML(Q) did reasonably well in rest of the country, especially in Baluchistan. Election result in provinces show that PML(Q) along with PPP are only two National parties, with presence all over Pakistan.

For instance: Out of 51 Baluchistan Provincial Assembly seats, PML(Q) got 18, MMA got 7 and thus they would make government again. As for others, PPP got 7. BNP got 5, ANP got 2, NP got 1, and ind got 11. PMLN got zero seats in both PA and NA from Baluchistan.

In Sindh, PML(Q) and alliance got 58 out of 130 seats (MQM = 38, PML =10, PML(F) = 7, NPP =3). PPP got 70 and ANP got 2. PMLN got zero seats in both PA and NA from Sindh.

In Punjab, considering all propaganda campaign, plus many PML(Q) candidate contested as independent or joined PML(N) or PPP just to contest election (a move of convenience), PML(Q) got 69 PA seats, in comparison PPP got 79 and PML(N) got 104 seats and there are 34 independents (a very large proportion of them are pro-Musharraf candidates). Results of 6 seats are still to come.

Punjab has 297 PA seats and one needs 144 seats to form govt in Punjab. It seems that PML(Q) decided to let PPP and PML(N) fight with each other for government of Punjab, even though if they want they can side with any of the two parties (PPP or PMLN) to give them government in Punjab.

As for NWFP, total seats are 99 and ANP got 31 PA seats (result on 8 is yet to come). Here PPP with 17 seats came second. MMA got 10. PML(Q), PPP (Sherpao) and PML(N), all three parties got 5 seats each. There are 18 independents and thus most likely ANP would make government.

So, one can say that result is as expected, that is of hung parliament in National Assembly as well as in all provinces except Sindh where PPP can make government with small margin. Only unexpected part of election was that PMLN got few seats more than expected. Even though, that could be part of some shrewd future design.

Nevertheless, this election has turned PMLN into a regional party. PPP and PML(Q) are only two parties that got reasonable votes in all 4 provinces and got seats in NA as well as PA from all 4 provinces.

As for crossing the party line, it is not allowed in Pakistani constitution but if it was allowed, it would have been easier for government to split PML(N) and PPP, rather they splitting PML(Q). As for some talking about Lota party and so on, than people should know that PML does not belong to Nawaz Shareef and lotas are those that today are standing behind NS as if Party belongs to NS. Reality is that, those in PML(Q), most were in PML since generation. As for NS and many in PMLN, most are opportunist and they can do anything for money or power. One can see the character of NS that he can make alliance with anyone, even devil, to fool people. NS and characterless people like him have no party other than corruption and nepotism. If today Zardari would throw a bone to him, he would become loyal servant of Zardari and tomorrow if it would be any military dictator (like Zia) would throw a bone to him, he would become loyal servant of that military man.

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Re: The Telegraph reports: Pervez Musharraf 'will exit in days, not months'

There may be two reasons for his leaving the office of President soon:

  1. Leave honorably or kicked out disgracefully, following the history trend.
  2. Leaving now, may cool down people who are very much enthusiast of his departing. This enthusiasm will definitely join all three main winners the PPP, PML N and ANP . His early exit may result in different scenario, like such kind of coalition may not take place.

A person with average common sense, will think of leaving as soon as possible to save some respect. Right now he is facing mob like situation. To dissipate this agressiveness, his departure even today is never too soon.:D

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Re: The Telegraph reports: Pervez Musharraf ‘will exit in days, not months’

:rotfl: okay.

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Re: The Telegraph reports: Pervez Musharraf 'will exit in days, not months'

Very good analysis of the reality and current situation.

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Re: The Telegraph reports: Pervez Musharraf ‘will exit in days, not months’

Saleem bhai, I really dont know what to say. Awesome work :k: :rotfl:

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Re: The Telegraph reports: Pervez Musharraf ‘will exit in days, not months’

You are wrong again Saleem. There is a proper procedure in place to replace an incompetent and corrupt government which must be respected and followed by everyone. The people of Pakistan should only decide through 4- (would be preferable) or 5-yearly general elections who they want as their leader. It is not the job of the military to intervene every time an opportunity arises or everytime a government is seen to be weak, corrupt, incompetent or unpopular. The generals must not exceed their domain under any circumstances. I don’t support NS but he is absolutely right and spot on when he says that elected representatives are answerable to the people of Pakistan and not to the military. The people of Pakistan are wise enough to boot out incompetent and corrupt politicians. Only recently they gave a king size ‘laat’ to the corrupt lotas and chamchas of PML-Q in the elections.

The biggest joke is you think the PML-Q lotas are not corrupt. Read the following:

“We had urged Musharraf many times during the corps commanders meeting that the PML-Q leadership was the most condemned and castigated personalities. They are the worst politicians who remained involved in co-operative scandals and writing off loans. But Musharraf never heard our advice,” Kiyani said while recalling discussions in their high profile meetings.
http://thenews.jang.com.pk/top_story_detail.asp?Id=13159

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Re: The Telegraph reports: Pervez Musharraf ‘will exit in days, not months’

:rotfl:

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Re: The Telegraph reports: Pervez Musharraf ‘will exit in days, not months’

I wish we had a “Stand-up-political-comedy” competition, I am sure Sa1eem bhai would win it :k: