Islamabad (AsiaNews) – “Goodbye Pakistan. God protect Pakistan! Long live Pakistan!”: with these words Parvez Musharraf ended his address to the nation in which he decided to reign from the post of president. In his speech he said that his decision was dictated for the good of the country, and to avoid an atmosphere of conflict.
Musharraf was about to have been stooped in his tracks by the coalition government which had gathered evidence to force his impeachment. He is accused of violating the constitution and of having manipulated state funds.
In his speech this morning he underlined that he had always acted in the best interests of Pakistan and its people. But the coalition government accuses him of having created an atmosphere of tension and producing problems, starting a “war” against him.
Musharraf made the decision to appeal to the nation after councillors advised him that the impeachment process was set to begin tomorrow.
Parvez Musharraf, former head of the army, is seen as an important US ally in the war on terror, even though he has appeared indecisive at times and has even compromised with Taliban and radical Muslims.
He came to power after a non violent coup in 1999. In 2007 he was forced to step down as army chief. His power base was rocked last year when he arrested the Supreme Justice and 60 judges who wanted to block his attempts to become re-elected president.
