ISLAMABAD, Aug 12: Support for the ruling coalition’s initiative to impeach President Pervez Musharraf continued to grow by the day as 12 legislators from the Federally Administered Tribal Areas (Fata) on Tuesday pledged their support for the move and the PPP (Sherpao) voted for it in the NWFP Assembly.
But the coalition partners were still undecided on the question of giving a ‘safe exit’ to the president.
“Twelve members of parliament from Fata called on PPP co-chairman Asif Ali Zardari at his residence and assured him of their support for impeachment,” the party’s spokesman Farhatulah Babar told Dawn. The legislators were: Hameedullah Afridi, Pir Noorul Haq Qadri, Sajid Toori, Shaukatullah Engineer, Bilal Rehman, Akhunzada Chettan, Zafar Baig Bithani, Jawad Hussain, Ghalib Wazir and Kamran Wazir.
Mr Babar said the charge-sheet against the president had been drafted, but final touches would be given by the top coalition leaders and it would be tabled in the National Assembly in a few days. “It can be sent to the speaker any day after Aug 16,” he said.
Mr Zardari said in an interview with a TV channel that the ruling coalition would not take ‘revenge’ on the president if he stepped down before impeachment.
“Democracy is the best revenge,” he said when asked about the option of ‘safe passage’ for the president.
The PPP leader claimed that Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI) and the army were not supporting the president over the impeachment move.
A spokesman for Mr Zardari said the claim was based on an announcement by the Chief of the Army Staff, Gen Ashfaq Parvez Kayani, that the army would not indulge in politics.
Information Minister Sherry Rehman said “taking a decision about safe passage is a prerogative of the coalition leadership”.
PPP-S chief and former interior minister Aftab Ahmed Khan Sherpao said his party was supporting the impeachment move because it wanted democracy to flourish.
He said five legislators of his party in the NWFP assembly had voted against President Musharraf. “We took the decision on Tuesday morning to support the ruling coalition in the move on the basis of our principled stand that democracy must be strengthened,” Mr Sherpao said.
In reply to a question, he said his party would remain in the opposition.
The former minister said nobody from the president’s camp had contacted him, but the PPP co-chairman had talked to him by telephone on Monday night to seek his party’s support.
The information minister told reporters after a meeting of a joint committee preparing the charge-sheet that it was a very “powerful document”.
The president would be given every opportunity to respond, she said.
She said impeachment of President Musharraf was a political and parliamentary movement. Nobody could undermine parliament and political and democratic forces, she said.
“The Pakistan People’s Party had started gathering material against President Musharraf five years ago and now there is sufficient material,” she said.
Ms Rehman said members of the PML-Q and independent MNAs and senators had begun getting in touch with the coalition.
She said the passage of resolutions against President Musharraf by the Punjab and NWFP assemblies with an overwhelming majority was a complete endorsement of the government’s decision to impeach him.
“This also shows the verdict of the people. The coalition’s move to go ahead with impeachment has received tremendous support from public representatives,” she said.
The minister said the overwhelming endorsement was a strong evidence of democracy finally taking root in the country.
The resolutions passed by the two assemblies “have boosted our confidence and the government is determined to proceed with its impeachment move,” she said. She said the coalition enjoyed a two-thirds majority in parliament and it would get more than the required number of votes to impeach the president.
“It is for the first time in the country’s history that people from the ‘king’s party’ want to vote against the president.”
Pakistan Muslim League-N’s information secretary Ahsan Iqbal said President Musharraf had stunted political development during his eight-year rule.
He said the president had breached the Constitution twice and was responsible for the economic and political crisis.
The Leader of the House in the Senate, Raza Rabbani, told reporters that an “impeccable charge-sheet” was being prepared and it would be finalised in two or three days.
He said it was for the first time in the history of Pakistan that an impeachment move had been initiated against a president so “we have to be careful on this move”.
In reply to a question, he said the issue of reinstating the deposed judges had not been put under the carpet.
Senator Ishaq Dar of the PML-N said the committee was preparing a document that would be comprehensive, non-controversial and unchallengeable.
He said parliament had a right to complete impeachment of the president under Article 47 of the Constitution for which the number of votes was the most important factor.
He said 295 votes in both the houses of parliament were required to impeach the president and the coalition had enough for the purpose. “The process will reach its logical conclusion,” he said.
Mr Dar recalled that of 346 members of the Punjab Assembly, 321 had voted in favour of the resolution asking President Musharraf to seek a vote of confidence from his electoral college or resign.
“This is a clear mindset of the masses being reflected through resolutions in the provincial assemblies,” he said, expressing a hope that the Sindh and Balochistan assemblies would also vote against the president.