ISLAMABAD/LAHORE, 29 May 2008 — Former Pakistani Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif has called for President Pervez Musharraf to be removed from office and put on trial for treason.
Sharif, chief of the Pakistan Muslim League (N), in a speech to supporters yesterday claimed that Asif Ali Zardari, whose party leads the coalition government, had agreed in talks the day before to remove Musharraf.
But a spokeswoman for Zardari said that while his party might consider impeaching Musharraf, its first priority was to cut back the former military strongman’s powers.
Sharif said that appointment of the Pakistan People’s Party’s governor in Punjab would not destabilize his party’s government in the province.
The PML(N) leader said people had given verdict against the president so he should vacate the army house. Sharif said the number of Parliament members required to impeach the president was available.
Meanwhile, a petition was filed in Lahore against President Musharaf’s stay in the army house. The petitioner asked the court to order the president to vacate the army house since he was no longer the army chief.
“I have spoken with Zardari that we should throw him out to respect the mandate of the people of Pakistan, and he agreed yesterday to do so,” Sharif told the meeting marking the tenth anniversary of Pakistan’s first nuclear tests.
Sharif said voters had given a “clear verdict” against Musharraf in the elections.
“Musharraf did not fulfill his promise to quit the presidency if people did not vote for his party,” he told the charged crowd in the eastern city of Lahore.
Sharif’s comments come amid divisions in the coalition over how to deal with Musharraf and over the restoration of top judges sacked by the president under emergency rule in November.
Zardari and Sharif met in Islamabad on Tuesday to discuss a package of constitutional amendments to clip Musharraf’s wings, but both sides are still finalizing details.
Musharraf’s spokesman earlier yesterday denied rumors sweeping the country’s stock market that Musharraf had resigned. “It is absolute nonsense, there is no such thing, there is nothing like this under any sort of consideration,” spokesman Rashid Qureshi told Dawn News television.
Sharif however called for Musharraf to be tried for sedition.
Meanwhile, dozens of Islamists marked the anniversary of the country’s nuclear test yesterday by rallying for an end to the house arrest of the man considered the father of the country’s bomb, Abdul Qadeer Khan.
The nuclear scientist enjoys national hero status in Pakistan, where he is credited for making it the world’s only Islamic nuclear power.
President Musharraf pardoned Khan, who insisted no other senior officials knew of his nuclear smuggling activities. But only after years of house arrest at his villa in Islamabad have authorities recently begun to ease some of the restrictions on his movements.
Yesterday, about 40 people gathered near Khan’s house in the capital and demanded his release. They also called for him to replace Pervez Musharraf as president.
“Abdul Qadeer Khan is the symbol of Pakistan’s honor, and God willing, he will become the president of Pakistan,” said Mian Aslam, a former lawmaker from an Islamist party.
