S.O.B Musharraf's Impeachment Under Way

Discussion
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Pakistan is facing a fresh political crisis after the ruling coalition agreed to begin impeachment proceedings against President Pervez Musharraf.

President Musharraf has said he would fight impeachment

The deal came after three days of talks between Asif Ali Zardari, the widower of slain former prime minister Benazir Bhutto, and Nawaz Sharif, a former prime minister.

A sitting Pakistani president has never been impeached before.

Mr Zardari said: "The coalition further decided that it will immediately initiate impeachment proceedings.

“The coalition leadership will present a charge sheet against Gen. Musharraf.”

Sky’s Asia correspondent Alex Crawford said: “For Pakistan, this is very bad news - there will be more turmoil and the stock markets have already taken a hit over this.”

She said the US would also be concerned about Pakistan’s future ability to fight terrorism.

Mr Musharraf has cancelled a trip to Beijing for the opening of the Olympic Games and his place will be taken by Prime Minister Yousuf Raza Gilani, the foreign ministry said.

The president’s allies lost elections in February but he has refused to quit.

A source told the AFP news agency: “The president’s options are either to issue an order dissolving the national assembly or impose emergency rule, under which the government will be suspended and a new caretaker set-up would be announced.”

Mr Musharraf, a former commando, seized power in a military coup in October 1999 and ruled Pakistan for eight years.

He was backed by the United States, which has counted him as a key ally since 9/11.

But his popularity slumped after he ousted the country’s chief justice and imposed a state of emergency in November 2007 to prevent any challenges to his re-election

Mr Ali Zardari’s Pakistan People’s Party (PPP) formed an alliance with Mr Sharif’s PML-N after defeating Mr Musharraf’s political allies in February.

The coalition has also agreed to restore judges sacked by Mr Musharraf.

Mr Musharraf has previously said he would fight impeachment and would not resign.

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Dey gonna chase dem crazy bald heads outta town!!!

Mush is a prick of the highest order and i hope they lynch his ass ma honky!!!

Bush and co must be watching this with interest.

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Just everyday politics in Pakistan…

Though I heavily disagree with them impeaching him - why is he a prick? One has to realize the battle that he had to tread carefully with the Mullahs. The new administration there won’t do any good whatsoever.

It’ll be difficult to impeach him, but let them try.

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Anyone who licks Bush’s ass as much as that guy has is a prick of the highest order.

What are your reasons for him not being impeached out of curiousity?

We all know he was loving the fact Bhutto got popped like Tupac. Infact he was probably instrumental in it happening…regardless the guy is a devious little demon who has done Pakistan no favours at all.

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i think the american public needs to expend some energy on the issue of impeaching our current el presidente here. i don’t know much about pakistani politics, but as afra said the process to impeachment in pakistan will be difficult.
apparently, the US impeachment proceedings are not so daunting, or nobody’s willing to step up, aside from dennis kucinich.
politics is full of people who want power. and some try to get it any which way. actually, they’re probably all guilty of that.

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I doubt we’ll hear much about this in the good ol us on the mainstream media… don’t want to give the headless chickens in this country any ideas

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Impeaching a lame duck in his last 4 months seems like wasted energy to me. Not that I like Bush in the slightest but he’s on his way out, his power is severely limited so I think it’s best to focus energy on avoiding McCain.

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Anyone who licks Bush’s ass as much as that guy has is a prick of the highest order.

What are your reasons for him not being impeached out of curiousity?

We all know he was loving the fact Bhutto got popped like Tupac. Infact he was probably instrumental in it happening…regardless the guy is a devious little demon who has done Pakistan no favours at all.

You must be kidding me. I’ve been keeping a close eye on what he’s been doing ever since he took over in the coup. Since he has been in power, he has turned the economy around, but one has to understand, it’s a tough job back there dealing with a variety of ideologies.

Firstly, he wasn’t corrupt. The West cried “democracy! democracy!” and came in Bhutto on her high horse. She was so corrupt and stole millions from the country when she ruled for two terms prior. Literally. The Swiss froze her accounts and she was on trial and was barred from entering Pakistan. There are many that would’ve benefited from Bhutto’s life but why would Musharraf do so - he knew her party would take power anyhow (talking of which, since Bhutto was so “democratic”, interesting how they didn’t hold elections to replace her within the party). She wasn’t good for the country or anything else related to Pakistan. She sang a good tune but never followed through. She played the West so well - it was amusing.

Regardless, he accepted the outcome of the votes and stepped down as Prime Minister. The power he has right now, though, is that he can dissolve the Parliament before the impeaching takes place. But as I said, impeaching someone is a very tough thing to do and I’d be surprised if it all went through.

Musharraf needs help from the US to combat the extremists who have entered Pakistan. Musharraf has received a lot of aid from countries in doing so. This is smart strategy. The problems started when he dismissed the supreme court’s Chief Justice. In fact the person initiating the impeachment is Nawaz Sharif, whose power was lost during Musharraf’s coup. Too bad Sharif, who was Prime Ministry when Musharraf took over, never heard the rule: “Never ever mess with a Pakistani Army General. They’ll take over”.

You’re thinking in recent history when you say he is helping out Bush. You see, Pakistan needs help in terminating these extremists and in comes the US with billions in military aid and economic aid. It’s a win-win situation. So your solution is for Musharraf to say “no” while the extremists take over and the country is bankrupt (which it was prior to Musharraf taking over)? Wouldn’t that be the worse thing for Pakistan?

Exactly what bad did he do to Pakistan?

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go afra!
thanks for the history lesson.

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just curious Afra, when was the last time you went to Pakistan? did it seem as if Mushy had used America’s millions to help his country?

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It’s a strange thing. I went to a live taping of The Daily Show here in New York, and Musharraf was the guest. I found him to be incredibly well-spoken, intelligent, and very thought-provoking in his ideas of expanding Pakistan’s ideas on trade and even on America.

It’s weird seeing him getting everyone all riled up, almost to the point where they would skin him alive if they could.