Musharraf: To quit or not to quit

As Pakistanis all over the world celebrate their country’s Independence Day today, the deflated head of state, President Pervez Musharraf, may say "goodbye" to his post after the third provincial assembly in Sindh – after Punjab and the North West Frontier Province – urged him to resign.

Throughout yesterday, local media speculated that Musharraf would be given a "safe passage" provided he quit without facing an impeachment motion that is likely to be tabled in the parliament this week. Although Musharraf has given no public sign that he plans to resign, political pressure is mounting on him to relinquish power.

Many political observers feel that he should quit rather than face impeachment, since this would result in less embarrassment than being thrown out of office.

‘Two options’

Asked late yesterday whether he would stay in office to help the country, Musharraf told a group of well-wishers, "God willing, I will try". The president spoke at an official function to mark Pakistan’s Independence Day. He was calm and composed.

"He has two options: to stay and fight or quit and go home," Mushahid Hussain, PML-Q secretary-general, told reporters. "If he fights back we are with him. We will support him, and that is the preferred option."

Hussain said that if Musharraf did decide to quit he should first rescind a corruption amnesty he signed last year that benefited ruling party chief Asif Ali Zardari and his late wife, former premier Benazir Bhutto. The ruling party denies the president has that power.

At least nine militants were killed in a missile strike on their training camp in Pakistan’s south Waziristan region, near the Afghan border, security officials and residents said.