Pakistani president Pervez Musharraf is seriously considering stepping down following reports that the his opponents in the new national assembly have got the two-thirds majority to impeach him.
ISLAMABAD: Pakistani president Pervez Musharraf is seriously considering stepping down following reports that the his opponents in the new national assembly have got the two-thirds majority to impeach him, strip him of his authority to dissolve the assemblies and reinstate the deposed judges of superior courts.
According to government sources, Musharraf’s aides have advised him to quit respectably than leave his fate in the hands of a hostile parliament.
Opposition parties including the Zardari-led PPP and the Sharif-led PML-N have bagged 232 seats in the National Assembly — the strength required to impeach the president in the lower house of the parliament.
A day after the general elections, Musharraf had said he would complete his constitutional tenure of five years in the belief that his rivals would not be able to cobble up the numbers. But he seems to have been proved wrong.
According to the break up, the strength of the PPP that won 88 seats now stands at 113 after adding up those members elected in indirect elections on the reserved seats for women and minority.
Similarly, the strength of the PML-N that had won 66 seats in direct elections now stands at 83 by adding up the women and the minority seats.
The Awami National Party has 10 seats, and all the 27 independent members are likely to join the PPP which is expected to form a coalition government at the centre. The combined strength of these parties thus comes to 232 while 228 seats in a 342-member National Assembly are required to attain a two-thirds majority.
Musharraf’s aides concede he is already consulting those close to him as well as well wishers in the establishment to take a final decision which is expected before the first session of the national assembly that is likely to be convened in the first week of March.
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