Foes to put Musharraf to a vote of confidence

Protesters holding posters that read "Decision of nation, Musharraf immediately resign" take part in a rally in Hyderabad yesterday.

ISLAMABAD // Pakistan's government will take the first step towards removing Pervez Musharraf from the presidential office today by proposing a vote of no confidence against him. Last week, the government announced it would seek to ratchet up pressure on Mr Musharraf to resign by seeking to impeach him.

First, however, the government will conduct a series of votes of no confidence in Pakistan's four provincial assemblies. The votes are expected to go against the president. If Mr Musharraf, a former military ruler, refuses to resign should the provincial assemblies vote against him, the government will present an impeachment motion in the national parliament. The first vote of confidence will take place tomorrow in the pivotal province of Punjab, where the two central government coalition partners hold power.

"This is the start of the impeachment process," said Farhatullah Babar, a government spokesman. The three other provincial assemblies - Sindh, Baluchistan and North West Frontier Province - are expected to hold similar votes before the end of the week. The national assembly will also meet to open a parliamentary session that the government intends to use to present an impeachment motion after Aug 16, if Mr Musharraf refuses to step down.

"We are staging a vote of confidence in all the provincial assemblies to put moral and political pressure on him to resign," Mr Babar said. "If he does not resign in the meantime, which would be the most honourable course for him, he will be impeached. It will be first time in the history of Pakistan." Farooq Naek, the law minister, told reporters: "A comprehensive charge sheet is being prepared." It include "gross misconduct and violation of the constitution. The charge sheet will be solid and Musharraf will not be able to fight it," said Mr Naek, who is a member of the committee drafting the charges.

"It is better for him to resign before impeachment," he said. Supporters of Mr Musharraf, a key ally in the US-led "war on terror", have said he will defend himself against the charges. The move to impeach the Pakistani president is the culmination of a power struggle between the former military chief and the civilian government. It is a battle that has paralysed Pakistan since Mr Musharraf's political party lost elections in February.

The bid to oust Mr Musharraf, however, has raised the prospect of a drawn-out and debilitating wrangle. It risks further weakening Pakistan, which is plagued by pro-Taliban militancy and whose people face rapidly escalating fuel and food prices. The prospects of the nuclear-armed country - which is also a suspected hiding place for al Qa'eda leaders - being rocked by further instability is a mounting concern for the West and Pakistan's regional neighbours.

Mr Musharraf, who seized power in 1999, stepped down as army chief in November after being re-elected to serve a five-year term as president. He has said in the past that he would resign rather than be dragged through an impeachment process by a parliament filled with enemies. Mr Musharraf may resign, or as his allies have said, use the last remaining tools at his disposal - the remnants of a defeated political party and a military intelligence agency - to regain some of his much diminished power.

Stripping Mr Musharraf of the presidency would require a two-thirds majority vote of all members in a joint sitting of the national assembly and the senate. The coalition is several seats short of the 295 votes it requires out of the 439 in the senate and national assembly to remove Mr Musharraf. The coalition claims it has the numbers to achieve this - Asif AliZardari, the leader of the ruling Pakistan People's Party, said he had 300 votes - but the president's allies dispute that and have accused the government of attempting to buy up the votes of independent candidates. Mr Musharraf retains the power to dissolve parliament. It would be a hugely controversial move if he did so and would require the backing of the army, which, after being tarnished by its eight years of direct rule, has said it wants to stay out of politics. The coalition has accused the president of violating the constitution, bringing "Pakistan to a critical economical impasse" during his eight-year rule, and conspiring against their newly elected government. Mr Musharraf's allies have countered that the coalition partners have raised the impeachment issue in a bid to deflect criticism of the government's poor performance. The bickering coalition partners have so far failed to fulfil on a key pledge to restore the chief justice and dozens of judges who Mr Musharraf sacked to have himself re-elected while still army chief. The constitution states that within three days of receiving a resolution seeking the president's impeachment, the speaker is required to forward it to the president and convene a joint sitting of parliament between seven and 14 days later. Coalition officials said the impeachment process should be complete by the end of August. However, analysts said it could become entangled in challenges in the Supreme Court. @Email:[e-mail]