ISLAMABAD: Pakistani President Pervez Musharraf and his political allies have vowed to fight an attempt by the country’s ruling coalition to impeach him.
Hours after the coalition partners declared Thursday that they would move an impeachment motion in Parliament on Monday, Musharraf met with parliamentarians of the Pakistan Muslim League (Q) party as well as legal and constitutional experts to plan strategy to fight such a move. Among the people he consulted was constitutional expert Shareefuddin Pirzada.
A member of the National Assembly, who was present at the two-hour meeting, quoted the president as saying: “I will face the motion, defend myself and declare that I never violated the constitution.” He said whatever he did was to stabilize the country and promote democracy.
On Thursday, Pakistan People’s Party Co-chairman Asif Ali Zardari said the coalition would impeach Musharraf for weakening the federation, destroying the economy and wrecking the judiciary.
Chaudhry Shujaat Hussain, president of Pakistan Muslim League (Q) told Geo News that the government’s impeachment would be countered. “This decision about impeachment is going to open a Pandora’s box. It is not going to be that easy.”
Hussain insisted his party would defend the president, while another Musharraf ally, Tariq Azim, said the coalition should expect “many legal challenges.”
Hussain alleged that the coalition had started “horse trading at mass scale” to win over some deputies of his party as it lacked sufficient numbers to impeach Musharraf.
Analysts say the ruling coalition, which has struggled with pressing economic and security problems it inherited, is not assured of victory. An impeachment of the president requires a two-thirds majority of lawmakers to vote for it in a joint session of Parliament.
The coalition parties currently control 236 of the 339 seats in the National Assembly, or lower house, and as many as 51 of the 100 seats in the Senate, or upper house. That leaves it at least six seats short of what it needs to win, although it could gain the support of some of the 29 independent lawmakers or defectors from pro-Musharraf parties.
Coalition officials expressed full confidence they would get the necessary numbers.
Information Minister Sherry Rehman said 18 members of the opposition had offered their support. She did not specify exactly which parties they hailed from or if they were independents.
Sen. Latif Khosa was also upbeat, but the move could face difficulty if five PPP members including Makhdoom Amin Fahim supported the president.
— With input from agencies
