Musharraf Bows Out

President Musharraf announced his resignation on Monday, thereby ending a nearly nine-year highly controversial career as head of state. The resignation not only saved him from what would have been the first impeachment of a president in the history of Pakistan, but also remarkably lowered political and economic tensions with the stock market soaring and falling rupee showing some stability against the US greenback.
It was on October 12 1999 that Musharraf overthrew the elected government of Nawaz Sharif and vowed to end corruption, improve the economy with an address to the nation similar to his farewell address as President: tears in his voice, a charge sheet against those who opposed him and a list of his own accomplishments.
In his televised address to the nation, he said that his resignation was motivated by his desire to avoid horse-trading during the process of impeachment as well as a confrontation amongst all the pillars of state namely the parliament, the judiciary and the legislature. He added that the army might, too, have been dragged into the controversy, if he did not resign. This, he said, would have further compromised the stability of the country.
He rejected allegations that he was conspiring against the government, saying had he been conspiring against the government, the Prime Minister would have not been able to get a unanimous vote of confidence and the budget would have not been passed smoothly.
"It was my desire to lend whatever experience I had to the government to improve the situation in the country," but regretted that the ruling coalition considered him a problem and not the solution. He also accused some political elements of deceiving the people and lamented that these politicians did not realise that their politics of negative propaganda harms the country. "It is the right of the Parliament to initiate impeachment against me and it is my right to defend it," he added. He was confident that no charge against him could be proved as he always made decisions with the spirit of "Pakistan First". It was in this spirit of Pakistan first that he had urged reconciliation instead of confrontation for the past eight months.
"I have never thought of victimisation or vendetta against any one and allowed every political personality to take part in the elections held on February 18," which, he claimed, were declared as the most transparent elections in the history of the country. "I am resigning because it is not appropriate for the office of the President, a symbol of the federation, to face the impeachment process," he said.
Recounting his achievements, he drew an analogy of democracy as a bottle in which he, as President, had poured the essence. The essence, he defined, as the introduction of his local government system. The President claimed that he had empowered women and minorities and it was in his tenure that not only the National Assembly completed its term but local bodies' elections were held twice.
The President said that when he took over power nine years ago the country was on the verge of collapse, economically and politically. It was about to be declared a terrorist and economically failed state. But he faced these challenges with the help of Almighty Allah and brought the country out of crisis.
Moreover, he said, Pakistan has also successfully faced grave challenges such as economic disaster, drought, challenges arising out of India's hostility, 9/11 and a natural calamity in October 2005 (earthquake) during his tenure. Such challenges, he claimed, Pakistan had never faced before.
He rebutted allegations that the economy was destroyed during the last eight years, saying the economy was growing at an average seven percent in December 2007, foreign exchange reserves were over 17 billion dollars, revenue collection was Rs one trillion, while stock exchange index was as high as 16,000 points and foreign exchange rate remained around Rs 60 per dollar during the eight years. And the economy was so strong that international rating agencies were rating Pakistan as N-11 (next eleven) countries.
He said the economic crisis began six months ago and now foreign exchange reserves were less than 10 billion dollars, exchange rate has climbed up to Rs 77 against US dollar, stock exchange index was hovering around 10,000 points and there was a massive capital flight with investors losing their confidence in the economy. He said people are facing unprecedented price hike that had made their lives miserable.
About load-shedding, he said it was wrong to blame that no additional megawatts were added to the national grid. During the last nine years, he said 3,000 MW was added to the national grid and total capacity was 14,000 MW in June 2007, but it declined to 10,000 MW in June this year mainly because the units could not operate at full capacity due to the problem of circular debt. He said a number of communication projects were completed at a cost of billions of rupees during his tenure.
He also recounted his achievement in education and health sectors and said he had made immense efforts to improve the status of Pakistan among the comity of nation as nobody had really known Pakistan before 2001. And now, he said that Pakistan was not only known in the world, but was being given due consideration and respect at international level.
About law and order situation, he said best efforts were made to improve it but said the culture of terrorism and suicide bombing that began after 9/11 would have to be addressed.
President Musharraf did not accept responsibility for any of the ills that are currently attributed to his government during his farewell speech. He repeatedly expressed contentment with what he termed was God's support throughout his tenure. Ungraciously, however, he added that as he was human he may have made mistakes but those were inadvertent.
Musharraf also in his resignation speech claimed support from 85 percent of the people of this country. It was perhaps his perception of this "massive" support that led him to say that he leaves his own fate in the hands of the people of the country.