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Pakistan coalition agrees to impeach Musharraf

Updated: 2008-08-07 18:36

ISLAMABAD  -- Pakistan faced fresh political turmoil on Thursday after party sources said the country's ruling coalition had agreed to impeach President Pervez Musharraf, a vital US ally in the "war on terror."

The agreement came after three days of marathon talks between coalition leaders Asif Ali Zardari, the widower of slain former premier Benazir Bhutto, and Nawaz Sharif, another former prime minister.

Pakistani President Pervez Musharraf, seen in June. Pakistan's ruling coalition has agreed to launch impeachment proceedings against Musharraf, party sources told AFP on Thursday. [Agencies]

"The coalition parties have agreed in principle to launch an impeachment motion against President Musharraf," one of the senior coalition sources told AFP on condition of anonymity.

Musharraf's spokesman was not immediately available for comment but officials said he had again delayed his departure to Beijing, where he was to attend to the opening of the Olympic Games on Friday.

Spokesmen for the two main parties in the coalition said a formal announcement was due to be made later Thursday.

Musharraf seized power in a military coup in October 1999 and ruled nuclear-armed Pakistan for eight years with the backing of the United States, which has counted him as a key ally since the September 11 attacks.

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

Musharraf stepped down as army chief that month, and the parties of Bhutto and Sharif then trounced his allies in general elections in February.

Coalition sources said the agreement to impeach came when Sharif assured Zardari late on Wednesday that he could count on the support of some former members of the PML-N who are currently members of a pro-Musharraf party.

"There was a major breakthrough in the talks late last night. We have agreed to impeach the president," a senior member of former premier Nawaz Sharif's Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) party said.

An official from Bhutto's Pakistan People's Party, now led by her widower Zardari, confirmed the decision.

The parties have also agreed to restore judges sacked by Musharraf under emergency rule but were still working out the details, the party sources said.

They said that a charge sheet on Musharraf's position and performance as president 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 seven to 15 days, they said.

The national assembly is currently in recess but party officials said that any impeachment motion could initially be launched in the senate or upper house.

Television channels reported that the government was set to recall the national assembly as early as next week.

The coalition had been split by the twin issues of what to do about Musharraf and how to carry out their pledge to reinstate the judges.

The rift had effectively paralysed the government, which is under huge US pressure over its efforts to negotiate with Taliban and Al-Qaeda militants. It is also facing public anger over rising food and fuel prices.