The coalition partners led by Pakistan People's Party are pulling noose around President Pervez Musharraf for his resignation before he is impeached. In an interview, PPP spokesman Farhatullah Babar said on Friday.
"Asif Ali Zardari has already described Musharraf as relic of the past," and added people have rejected Musharraf and his supporters in general elections and are now fed up with him. Babar said PPP would prefer that Musharraf himself resigned before he was ousted through impeachment by the Parliament.
However, Zardari who was quoted by newspapers to have demanded of Musharraf to quit before 10th June 2008 said at a news conference on Friday "I do not believe in countdown or count up of dates, I believe in dialogue and that is continuing." The PML-N spokesman, Siddiqul Farooque said Musharraf should not be given "safe passage" and demanded that he should be tried under Article 6 of the Constitution on high treason charges.
He contended that General Musharraf not only staged a coup against an elected government in 1999 but also destroyed the judiciary, a pillar of the state by sacking and putting the Chief Justice of Pakistan and judges of the superior courts under house arrest in November last year.
He argued if the Parliament continued to give indemnity to the usurpers and dictators and did not punish them for their crimes, then there would be no end to military take-overs and destruction of the State institutions.
Speaking on various TV channels, defence analysts and top retired Generals Talat Masood and Assad Durrani argued that Musharraf had no option left but to resign as he had lost support of the Army and the general public. The tribunal after hearing arguments of the appellant and respondent's lawyers reserved its judgement to be announced on Saturday.