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Pakistan’s Musharraf announces resignation

Whatever you say of Musharraf, he still has dignity left in him which you cannot say of Gloria Arroyo.

ISLAMABAD (Agence France Presse) — Pakistani President Pervez Musharraf announced in a televised address to the nation Monday that he had decided to resign after nine years in power to avoid the threat of impeachment.

The former army chief, who seized power in a bloodless coup in 1999, was under huge pressure from the governing coalition to step down before it launched the first impeachment proceedings in Pakistan’s 61-year history.

“After viewing the situation and consulting legal advisers and political allies, with their advice I have decided to resign,” a grim-faced Musharraf said, backed by Pakistani flags and a portrait of the country’s founder.

“I leave my future in the hands of people.”

Musharraf made the shock announcement after denying that any of the impeachment charges against him could stand and launching into a lengthy defense of his time in power.

“Not a single charge in the impeachment can stand against me,” Musharraf said. “No charge can be proved against me because I never did anything for myself, it was all for Pakistan.”

He said that there was now law and order in the country, that human rights and democracy had been improved and that Pakistan was now an crucial country internationally.

“On the map of the world, Pakistan is now an important country, by the grace of Allah,” he said.

Musharraf’s popularity slumped last year amid his attempts to oust the country’s chief justice and then during a wave of Taliban suicide bombings that killed more than 1,000 people, including former premier Benazir Bhutto.

He imposed a state of emergency in November last year to force his re-election to another five-year term through the Supreme Court, but his political allies were trounced at the February polls.

The coalition of parties which won the February election, led by Bhutto’s Pakistan People’s Party, finally overcame months of divisions and agreed to impeach Musharraf on August 7.

It piled on the pressure with no-confidence votes in Pakistan’s four provincial assemblies last week. Then on Sunday it said it had drawn up impeachment charges and would lodge them in parliament this week.

The charges reportedly included violation of the constitution and gross misconduct.

Officials say that Musharraf’s aides have been in talks with the coalition, brokered by Saudi Arabia, the United States and Britain, to allow him to quit in return for indemnity.

Musharraf’s spokesman had repeatedly denied in recent days that he was about to quit, and it was not immediately clear what would happen next.

But a lack of apparent support from Pakistan’s army, which he left in November, apparently made other options — including dissolving parliament or even declaring another state of emergency — impossible.

Speculation over Musharraf’s fate intensified overnight when US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice said that granting asylum to Musharraf was not currently under consideration by the United States.

“That’s not an issue on the table, and I just want to keep our focus on what we must do with the democratic government of Pakistan,” Rice said.

Western allies want Pakistan to resolve the crisis over Musharraf so it can deal with the fight against Taliban and Al-Qaeda militants in the tribal areas bordering Afghanistan, where nearly 500 people have died in the past week.

The government is also struggling to deal with a severe economic crunch.

Published inForeign Affairs

33 Comments

  1. Tilamsik Tilamsik

    Buti pa si Musharraf nakaisip ng matino.

  2. Naalala ko tuloy ‘tong sinabi ni Mrs. Arroyo noon:

    “…I believe that we can create a strong and modern Philippine Republic, but it will take personal sacrifice from each one of us.”

    😀

  3. Warning to Gloria and other tyrants:

    “You can fool some of the people all of the time, and all of the people some of the time, but you can not fool all of the people all of the time.”Abraham Lincoln.

  4. Ederic:

    Did she really say this, “but it will take personal sacrifice from each one of us.”

    Pakisabi sa kaniya, mauna siya. Mahirap ang puro dada lang.

  5. grizzy: Bahagi yan ng Rizal Day 2002 speech niyang nagsasabing di na siya tatakbo sa 2004. 😉

  6. prans prans

    18 Agosto 2008

    Si musharraf kahit paano may delikadesa sa katawan, e ang impakta???kaibigan nyang si thaksin ng thailand nag-resign at umalis ng kanyang bansa para walang gulo, pero ang impakta???

    Alam nyo sa sampung sinabi ng impakta e, isandaan na ang mali, marami pa ng 90 bilang.

    Ganyan ang macapagal, este macapa, este makapal ang mukha at manhid.

    prans

  7. Valdemar Valdemar

    Di kaya makuha sa dasal ng mga obispo na gayahin na lamang niya si Musharraf? Tingnan natin ang bisa ng panalangin at dasal. Tablan sana.

  8. Diego K. Guerrero Diego K. Guerrero

    Gloria Macapal-Arroyo has no peoples’ mandate. She is a fake and usurper. Kapit-tuko at ganid sa kapangyarihan.

  9. chi chi

    Never na gagawin iyan ni Gloria. Si Musharaff ay may natira pang kahihiyan, si Gloria ay purong kawalanghiyaan.

  10. chi chi

    Val,

    Ikaw naman. Ipagdarasal pa ng mga obispo ni Gloria na matuloy ang chacha para patuloy ang daloy ng money bags.

  11. Tilamsik Tilamsik

    Mahina pala itong si Musharraf! e kung humingi ng advise sa Reyna sigurado nasa poder pa siya. Ikinakasa palang ang impeachment, nag resign na kaagad. E itong si GMA apat na impeachment na nandyan parin.

    Mas makapal… mas matibay..!!

  12. ocayvalle ocayvalle

    hindi kaya tayong mga filipino na ang me diperensya??
    si marcos tumagal ng mahigit dalawampung taon bago tayo nagising, si GMA wala pa yatang sampung taon.. a tilang beses na tayong inu ulol at ginagago andiyan pa din. siguro
    kung talagang mag papagao talaga tayong mga pilipino.. aabutin pa siya ng mga ilang taon.. sigurado ako, hindi siya baba sa 2010.. itaga mo sa bato at gagawan niya ng paraan manatili lang siya sa puwesto.. di kaya talagang mas madame ang pilipinong hindi naman duwag, ayaw lang makialam at gusto eh manood na lang..!! ang tagal na tayong ginagago ni GMA, dedma lang siya at wala siyang keme maski sino ka pa.. mapa cardinal rosales ka, mike velarde or si ka erdi manalo ka, bayad ka sigurado ako..!!

  13. chi chi

    Tilamsik,

    Tingnan mo rin si Mugabe, matatag at matibay. Adviser niya si Gloria.

  14. bitchevil bitchevil

    Many other tough leaders even if duly elected by the people have resigned after realizing that they were unwanted and disliked by the people. Not this Evil Bitch. She’s a modern day Hitler!

  15. bitchevil bitchevil

    Ocayvalle, Marcos was in power for 20 years but he did a lot of things for the country. Gloria is in power for almost eight years but accomplished nothing. Instead, she continues to destroy the country.

  16. ocayvalle ocayvalle

    yes bichevil,madami man ginawa si marcos, ganon pa rin ang kasalanan niya sa mamayang pilipino,he destroyed the very essence of democracy in this country, marcos became the copy cat of all fake leaders of this country to stay in power illigaly, ramos tried to prolong his stay with his peoples initiative using mr pedrosa as using all kind of media gimmick and ramos idea of 20/20.. now we had GMA who will do things illegally to stay in power.. belive me GMA will do anything to stay in power after 2010 and she can, kasi ang me deperensya, tayong mga filipino na..siguro after 2010, saka lang tayo magigising..!! pilipino talaga pang ningas cogon lang.. look at our leaders now, they are all the same, their motto is to serve the people in the beginning, once there, their true colors is to steal the peoples money..as long as we are not united.. GMA will stay beyond 2010..

  17. bitchevil bitchevil

    Marcos destroyed democracy; but was it restored? Not by Cory.

    Anyway, President Musharraf resigned to avoid impeachment. He should have been smart enough to learn from Gloria’s tricks. GMA survived two impeachments. She did not avoid impeachment but rather impeachment avoided her.

  18. tagairaya tagairaya

    The lack of apparent support from Pakistan’s Army left Musharraf no other option but to resign. Eh, ang army natin dito?

  19. bitchevil bitchevil

    Also, Pakistan has a very strong united Opposition.

  20. nahnah nahnah

    Tumino ang mga tao nuong nag martial law si Marcos. Nagkaroon ng purging at professionalization ng bureaucracy. Pero hindi nagtagal, bumalik sa dati, kasi siguro parang kanser, may naiwang ilang bulok at kumalat kaya ang labas, ayan malala na at beyond redemption.

  21. bitchevil bitchevil

    It was those around Marcos including his wife Imelda who destroyed him and his government in the middle and later part of his regime.

  22. Valdemar Valdemar

    Chi,
    Ganyan na lang ba kagarapal ang simbahan?

    Tilamsik,
    Musharraf copied the Philippine sample of a bloodless coup to get into power.But he cant stomach to copy now the Phlippine sample of clinging to the last.

    Bitchevil,
    Behind the downfall of man is a woman.

  23. bitchevil bitchevil

    Valdemar, can we also say that behind the downfall of a woman is a man…a Big Fat Man?

  24. Ang pagkakaiba ng Pakistan sa Pilipinas?

    Ang Presidente ng Pakistan si Pervez Musharraf.
    Ang Presidente (daw) ng Pilipinas si Pervert Mascorrupt!

    (Orig yan, pwede na ipasa-text!)

  25. chi chi

    Ha!ha!ha! Okey ngarud, ipasa ‘yan!

    Mas gusto ko iyan kesa sa Pandack Omama. Ikaw talaga Tongue, kung anu-ano ang nasa tuktok mo, hahaha!!!

  26. Inspired ako, hirap kasi mag-post dati. Hehehe

  27. kabute kabute

    Wala sa bukabularyo ni gloria ang resign. Wala rin ang mga salitang hiya, delikadesa, puri, pagkatao, sinseridad at onor. Kasalanan din ito ng mga nakapalibot kay gloria tulad nila ermita, gonzalezes, dureza, esperon, yap, lapus, neri, golez, fajardo, teves sampu ng mga kapwa nilang magnanakaw. Idamay na rin natin ang mga taga CBCP, el shaddai, INC, quiboloy at iba pa diyan. Ito iyong mga “cordon sanitary napkin” ni gloria. Maawa kayo sa sarili ninyo kung kayo nangagarap na magre-resign si gloria – imposibol dream lang yan.

  28. Tongue,

    Ngayon lang ako nakabasa ng blog ni Ellen kasi busy ako. Golly, bilib na ako sa iyo! Pervert Mascorrupt! OK na OK para kay Gloria Garutay na mahilig sa sex. Hindi iyan tsismis ha. Inamin niya iyan sa isang interview ng mga foreign correspondents. Akala niya dakila na siya sa pag-amin niyang malibog siya. Pervert kasi!

  29. Tilamsik Tilamsik

    grizzy Says:
    August 19th, 2008 at 4:56 pm
    Akala niya dakila na siya sa pag-amin niyang malibog siya. Pervert kasi!
    *********************

    Oh..!! Plenty aha! aha! aha!

  30. bitchevil bitchevil

    People are asking if the Bitch is still seeing and dating the $2M dollar man…

  31. Gabriela Gabriela

    Tongue, pahiram nga nitong quote mo para sa text. But I will amend:

    In Pakistan,President Pervez Musharraf resigned.

    In the Philippines, President is Pervert Mascorrupt. Ayaw mag-resign!

  32. PSB PSB

    Bitchevil, para que pa i-date ang $2 million dollar man eh multi million dollar men and nakapila sa Malacanang! At yung Fatso niya eh trillion dollar man na! Pasawsaw sawsaw na lang siya sa iba. She has her cake and she can eat it too! NOT FOR LONG!

  33. bitchevil bitchevil

    When do you see a person with very poor health making frequent trips abroad? The Big Fat Guy is going to Beijing with his Little Horse Manure son to watch the RP Taekwando match.

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