The Impeachment (09082008)

The ruling coalition which includes PPP, PMLN and ANP and has support of JUIF has announced to move for impeachment of the President General (retired) Musharraf from the post of President of Pakistan. This move has come as a climax of many weeks of hectic political developments during which much has happened.
The President having regained the initiative went around the country visiting Karachi and Quetta addressing business community and the civil society effectively reading out a charge sheet against the sitting government. While all this was happening most of the political leadership was out of the country, upon their return they too started manoeuvring for regaining their own foothold. During this period the prime minister visited Washington and his Advisor on the Interior Ministry had received a pat on the back from President Bush, a symbolic gesture of which much has been made.
After three days of deliberations and tough negotiations the political parties decided to continue together and join forces to impeach the president. The President cancelled his visit to Beijing where he was to attend the opening ceremony of the Olympics and went into consultations with his allies and advisors.
The President has said on record that if he does not have the support of the people then he will quit office. Majority of the peoples representatives are behind the current move, thus this is a clear indication that people are no longer supporting President Musharraf. The President had also in a statement given to the Supreme Court of Pakistan vowed to take a vote of confidence from the new assemblies, which he has not done. Furthermore, the President had in his election campaign for PMLQ publicly stated that if the people supported his policies then they should vote for PML-Q; the election results speak volumes on this subject. Therefore, the President has no justification to stay on and if he does feel strongly enough about people's support for him then he should seek a vote of confidence from the elected representatives of the people, which will lay to rest the controversy forever.
But all indications are that the President is in no mood to keep his promises or follow a logical process to resolve this impasse. His advisors who have benefited from him greatly and stand to benefit equally greatly if he stays in power will obviously advise him to hang on till the bitter end, but they have nothing to lose, once this episode is over these hangers on will move in search of next dictator, but the President has too much to lose. It may be already too late for the President but he still has a chance to make a somewhat graceful exit.
The President would be looking at the twin fountains of power in Pakistan, the Americans and the Army. The statement that has come from an American official is not very flattering for the President, besides that country is now in the final stages of fresh elections, so at best their influence would not be that great, nevertheless, the indications are not in favour of the President, rather they favour the sitting government. The Army has also been meeting in a conference of Corps Commanders, the question is will the Army take sides with a retired general who still occupies the residence of the Army chief even though he is retired from the post? There are no indications from the Army on this count, which in itself is not good news for the President because once the process gathers momentum then very little can save the President.
The worse case scenario is that the President brings down the whole system, this is where the responsibility to the nation comes into play. Our Institutions need to decide if they will favour one individual over the system? Sadly our experience in October 1999 on this count was not very good, we can only hope that the institutions too have learnt something in the past eight years.