Musharraf faces impeachment

[Eugene]

Source: The Guardian

Musharraf faces impeachment
Pakistan's ruling coalition agrees 'in principle'
to begin proceedings to remove president

Saeed Shah in Islamabad and Ewen MacAskill in Washington
guardian.co.uk, Thursday August 07 2008 10:10 BST

Pakistan's ruling coalition today agreed "in principle"
to begin impeachment proceedings against the country's
president, Pervez Musharraf.

The decision to prosecute Musharraf came after late-night
discussions between Nawaz Sharif, leader of the Pakistan
Muslim League-N, and Asif Zadari, husband of the late
Benazir Bhutto and leader of the Pakistan People's party.

This morning, a senior coalition official emerged from
the talks and told Reuters: "Yes, we have agreed in
principle to impeach him."

An official announcement from the coalition's leaders is
expected later today.

-snip-

Read more: http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2008/aug/07/pakistan1

[no_hypocrisy]

1. I'm jealous.

[chelsea0011]

3. You can say that agin. How the hell does a dictator get impeached

and a republic can't get it done? Oh, I forgot. It's off the table.

[Solly Mack]

2. Oh, sure. Now *he* can get impeached.

[bobd0]

4. Someone please tell Nancy Pelosi

Nancy, it's OK to impeach. It's all the rage. They're even doing it in Pakistan.

[dixiegrrrrl]

5. An obviously over looked law in dick-tator countries

who knew?

So, does this mean we have to wait for Bush to announce he is, in fact, a total dictator before we can impeach him?

The movie is starting to get funny, can't wait for the book.

[Wizard777]

6. Why can't we be a third world country? They get to Impeach.

I know the republicans just need a little more time to make us a third world country.

[Jack Rabbit]

7. Pakistan's parliamentary leader know what to do with a power-hungry, criminal president

Why don't America's?

[The Stranger]

8. Can they send their notes to the Nancy Disaster?

[struggle4progress]

9. Musharraf will have to go: Pak Govt

Kamal Siddiqi
Karachi, August 07, 2008
First Published: 23:51 IST(7/8/2008)
Last Updated: 00:59 IST(8/8/2008)

Ending months of bickering, Pakistan’s ruling coalition announced on Thursday that it would impeach President Pervez Musharraf and reinstate judges dismissed by him, moves that could throw the troubled nation into greater turmoil.

“This is good news for the future of democracy in Pakistan,” said Asif Ali Zardari, co-chairman of the ruling Pakistan Peoples Party, at a crowded press conference in Islamabad with Pakistan Muslim League (N) leader Nawaz Sharif.

Impeachment requires a two-thirds combined majority in the lower and upper houses of Parliament. If Parliament does impeach the president, it will be a first for Pakistan. August 11 is being mentioned as a possible date for impeachment.

Sensing trouble, Musharraf chose not to fly to Beijing for the opening ceremony of the Olympics. Prime Minister Yusuf Raza Gilani will now represent Pakistan. It’s unlikely that the former general will give up without fighting the impeachment move ...

http://www.hindustantimes.com/StoryPage/StoryPage.aspx?sectionName=&id=7cff1de1-456c-47da-ad68-9583113f21b0&MatchID1=4728&TeamID1=2&TeamID2=3&MatchType1=1&SeriesID1=1191&PrimaryID=4728&Headline=Musharraf+will+have+to+go%3a+Pak+Govt&strParent=strParentID

[Igel]

10. Ah.

Movement on the judges issue. Of course, it had to happen: one thing Chaudhry was breathing down Musharraf's neck over was all the people "disappeared". With one of them turning up as a suicide bomber, not disappeared at all but gone jihadi, it looks bad. It raises the question, How many other disappeared merely didn't tell their parents or wives that they were going to do something that would produce horrors for their families if they failed, great honor if they succeeded?

It doesn't help that the PPP's plan for Swat and FATA has, as predicted, backfired. And the Army, which must always look bad, is again scoring some victories--even as the politicians retreat.

Or that the wheat policies produced little success, the electrification plan is warmed over 2007, that electrical power transmission lines and gas pipelines are still being bombed in the name of anti-government fundamentalism or pro-Balochi nationalism, that mostly Shi'ite Parachinar is essentially being starved out by the Sunnis around them and that the PPP and Sharif's group do nothing. Except complain that they had no idea how hard it would be to keep their promises (with complaints, "Perhaps if they lived in Pakistan they'd have had a clue").

My favorite line referred to the decade of dictatorship that the PPP had to work against. Of course, the first 16 months of the "dictatorship" still has Sharif in power, but it's Zardari and Gilani, so precision is, well, not de rigueur.

Having the PPP poll < 30% for popularity, and Sharif > 70%, surely plays into this. They make good opposition, but what to oppose when you're in power? You transfer the ISI to civilian hands, stipulating quite clearly what the reporting relationships are, and then say it was all a misunderstanding--what was written wasn't anything like what they actually wrote. So then what? The only things left: The Army and Musharraf, who has been remarkably passive the last 6 months, except for telling the Army to stay out of politics.

They'd better get him now before they're too incompetent: If Musharraf's still around in a year, he'll probably be popular again.