8-19-08, 9:12 am
Under strong pressure and the looming threat of impeachment, Pakistan President Pervez Musharraf announced his resignation Monday, Aug. 18th.
Backed strongly by the Bush administration, Musharraf's decision was met with public celebrations in the capital city of Islamabad and disappointment in Washington.
Musharraf was dealt a serious political blow after the Pakistan People's Party (PPP)won a majority in the national parliament in elections held earlier this year. The PPP then formed a parliamentary government with the oppositional Pakistan Muslim League-N soon after and restored the country's supreme court.
The ruling coalition, the PPP and the Pakistan Muslim League-N, announced just last week its intention to impeach Musharraf, and his parliamentary allies in the Pakistan Muslim League-Q quickly deserted him. (The Pakistan Muslim League split in 1999 when PML leader Nawaz Sharif expelled Musharraf, who had assumed dictatorial power over the government through a military coup and won the backing of the Bush administration two years later.)
Some in Pakistan, however, aren't satisfied with Musharraf's resignation. The Communist Party of Pakistan (CPP), for instance, wants the ruling coalition to carry out its threat and impeach the resigning general for dismantling the government's institutions and for the abuse power. The entire impeachment charge totaled more than 100 pages, according to media sources.
In statement released last week, the CPP emphasized that the credibility of the ruling coalition is at stake on this issue. The impeachment threat is 'no doubt an admirable and a bold step, yet if at the end, safe passage is given to Musharraf, it would demoralize the whole nation and also badly destroy the credibility of all the Ruling partners,' the communist spokesperson and party chair, Jameel Ahmad Malik, argued.
The CPP called for an immediate joint session of Pakistan Parliament in which charges against Musharraf for violating the Constitution of Pakistan could be read. Musharraf used the Pakistan military to impose his rule and to eliminate political opposition and legitimate constitutional institutions that he could not control, the CPP stated.
Failure to impeach and convict Musharraf would encourage his supporters in the military to engage in ongoing activities that subvert the authority of the civilian government, including the imposition of martial law, the communists insisted. The CPP promised to resist martial law, if imposed.
In its 60 years of freedom from British imperialism, Pakistan has been ruled by the military and General Musharraf for 35 of those years. This has to come to an end, the communists stated.
The Communist Party further blamed Musharraf for the increase of terrorism in Pakistan and insisted the Bush administration's 'war on terror' is not Pakistan's to fight.
