ISLAMABAD, 8 June 2008 — Pakistani President Pervez Musharraf told a selected gathering of journalists at the Presidential Palace yesterday that he had no immediate plan to resign or go into exile.
“I will not quit,” he said. “Neither will I dissolve the assemblies. I will make efforts to forge a positive equation with the prime minister and the Parliament.”
Musharraf, who came to power as a general following a coup in 1999, has cut an increasingly isolated figure since the parties supporting him were defeated in an election in February.
Musharraf has stubbornly held on to the presidency despite losing parliamentary backing and public support, and rumors in the past week had it that he was planning to step down and leave newly elected civilian leaders to run the country.
But with the government proposing sweeping changes in the constitution to curb his powers, Musharraf indicated he would not like to be reduced to a ceremonial head of state.
“I will neither quit nor leave Pakistan but I will not be part of the downfall of the state,” he added. “So I am waiting and watching. Parliament is supreme. Whatever it will decide will be accepted by me... but I will not like to try to be uselessly around.”
Benazir Bhutto’s widower Asif Ali Zardari, who leads the party heading the coalition, has called Musharraf a “relic of the past.”
He says his Pakistan People’s Party (PPP) does not recognize Musharraf as a constitutional president, and has drafted a constitutional package to reduce him to a figurehead role.
Nawaz Sharif, the prime minister Musharraf overthrew and who now leads the second largest party in the National Assembly, wants Musharraf impeached or tried for treason.
Asked how would he react if government tried to impeach him, Musharraf said: “I will abide by whatever Parliament decides. Let the Parliament decide in a constitutional way.”
Musharraf is believed to be seeking immunity for suspending the constitution and imposing emergency rule for six weeks last November, and the PPP leadership is trying to make his exit “dignified,” according to an adviser to Zardari.
