Picture (AFP/Arif Ali)- Pakistan protesters chant anti-President Pervez Musharraf slogans during the Red Mosque conference in Lahore on August 10.
Pakistani President Pervez Musharraf will not resign, as the ruling coalition put the finishing touches to impeachment charges against the key US ally.
Parliament was also due to convene ahead of the expected formal launch of impeachment proceedings later this week, while provincial assemblies will shortly consider no-confidence motions against Musharraf.
The former general has even faced calls from his own allies to stand down nearly nine years after he grabbed power in a bloodless military coup, but his spokesman dismissed the mounting pressure.
Presidential spokesman Rashid Qureshi told AFP “There is no reason that he should resign. Everything they are saying is false, so why should he resign?”
The spokesman however declined to comment on Musharraf’s plans. His options include trying to defeat impeachment in parliament, dissolving parliament or declaring a state of emergency.
It was the first statement from Musharraf’s camp since the
coalition, which swept to power in elections in February, announced its impeachment plans on Thursday.
Farzana Raja, a senior member of the Pakistan People’s Party (PPP) of slain former premier Benazir Bhutto, told AFP “The work of the impeachment committee is almost complete. It is giving finishing touches to the charge sheet”.
MRN-AFP
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