August 15, 2008	Friday	Sha'aban 12, 1429

ISLAMABAD, Aug 14: A special committee of the ruling coalition drafting a charge-sheet against President Pervez Musharraf is expected to complete its task on Friday and an impeachment notice will be submitted to the National Assembly secretariat next week.

“We expect that the committee will complete its task by and large on Friday,” PPP spokesman and member of the committee, Farhatullah Khan Babar, told Dawn on Thursday.The committee has been meeting daily since the announcement of the impeachment plan by the coalition parties last week.

Two members of the committee, belonging to the Pakistan Muslim League-N, did not attend Thursday’s meeting, which, according to Leader of the House in the Senate Raza Rabbani, was an “informal one”.

Senator Ishaq Dar was in Lahore and Ahsan Iqbal was in Narowal in connection with Independence Day programmes, he said, adding that they would attend the committee’s last meeting on Friday.The meeting was held at the residence of Information Minister Sherry Rehman. Federal ministers Qamaruz Zaman Kaira, Syed Khursheed Shah and Nazar Gondal later joined the committee members.

Mr Babar said that Law Minister Farooq Naek would attend Friday’s meeting to give his legal opinion about the draft.

He said the committee would prepare the draft on Friday and it would be sent to heads of the ruling coalition -- PPP co-chairman Asif Zardari, PML-N chief Nawaz Sharif, ANP president Asfandyar Wali and JUI-F chief Maulana Fazlur Rehman -- who will give their final opinion by Sunday.

He said that after getting suggestions from the coalition leaders, the committee would finalise the draft. It will be presented before parliament after submission of the impeachment notice by half of the National Assembly members, likely by Tuesday.

The committee members had earlier claimed that the voluminous charge-sheet against President Musharraf would comprise hundreds of pages containing serious charges of misconduct, financial irregularities, constitutional violations and criminal acts that could lead to his open trial.

However, Mr Babar said the final charge-sheet might only contain charges relating to constitutional violations and misconduct on the part of the president.

“It is up to the (coalition) leadership to decide whether the charge-sheet should be short and crisp or a lengthy document,” Mr Babar said, adding that changes could be made in the light of recommendations of legal experts and coalition leaders.

There were unconfirmed reports that the president’s loyalists had informed the coalition leadership that the president was ready to quit office if parliament indemnified his actions taken on or since Nov 3 of last year.

Commenting on the reports, Mr Rabbani said it was a hypothetical scenario, but he personally believed that there was no time left for the president to make such offers.