Pakistan Coalition to Impeach Musharraf

No president has ever been impeached in the history of the Asian Muslim heavyweight. (Reuters)

"We have good news for democracy," Asif Zardari, leader of the ruling Pakistan People's Party (PPP), told a joint press conference with former premier and coalition ally Nawaz Sharif.

"The coalition believes it is imperative to move for impeachment against General Musharraf."

Under the constitution, a  two-thirds combined majority in the upper and lower houses of parliament is required for impeaching a sitting president.

Zardari said he was "sure we will have 90 percent success from this parliament," adding that the coalition would "immediately" launch the proceedings and draw up a charge sheet against Musharraf.

"His policies have weakened the federation and eroded trust in national institutions.

"The incompetence and failure of his policies have thrown the country into the worst power shortage in its history."

Coalition source said the charge sheet would be drawn up and submitted to parliament to be signed by at least half of all MPs in the coming days.

The speaker of the national assembly, or lower house of parliament, would then notify Musharraf and ask him to defend his position within two weeks.

A senior coalition official earlier said the government had summoned the national assembly to sit on August 11 and could begin the impeachment proceedings then.

The PPP and Sharif's Pakistan Muslim League (PML-N) have 121 and 90 seats respectively in the 342-member parliament.

Overdue

Sharif, a two-time former premier whose elected government was ousted by Musharraf in a military coup in 1999, said the decision was long over due.

"Pakistan cannot afford to see democracy derailed," he said.

"This is not the same Pakistan as was the case in the 1980s and 1990s. People will not accept it now."

The ruling coalition had been split on what to do about Musharraf and the 60 supreme and high court judges he had sacked last year.

The PPP-led government had promised to reinstate the deposed judges, including Chief Justice Iftikhar Chaudry, within 30 days after taking the oath.

After the expiry of two different deadline to do that, Sharif decided to suspend his nine ministers in the 24-member federal cabinet.

The PPP was proposing a constitutional package aimed at giving indemnity to all extra-constitutional actions taken by Musharraf, and blocking the re-entry of Chaudry into the supreme court.

But the coalition partners agreed after three days of marathon talks.

Musharraf's popularity hit all time low after he imposed a state of emergency in November 2007 to prevent any challenges to his controversial re-election as president-in-uniform.

Threats

Musharraf's allies disputed that 90 percent of parliament would approve impeachment.

"The coalition doesn't have the numbers," said Chaudhry Shujaat Hussain, the leader of the pro-Musharraf Pakistan Muslim League (PML-Q).

"They are fooling the people."

Musharraf, a staunch US ally, immediately held urgent talks with his close aides to discuss the impeachment drive.

"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," a presidential source told Agence France-Presse (AFP).

Musharraf, a former commando has ruled nuclear-armed Pakistan for eight years with the backing of the United States, has cancelled a trip to Beijing for the Olympics launch.

Zardari played down the possibility that a cornered Musharraf could dissolve parliament.

"If he does it, it will be his last verdict against (the) people, against (the) people's mandate and against Pakistan," he told the press conference.

"The democracy is not that weak now that the threat... can be used."