Musharraf's woes pile up, NWFP joins ouster call

END OF THE ROAD: The call for Musharraf's impeachment grows strident as NWPF assembly joins in.

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Suhasini Haidar

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Islamabad: Pressure piled up on Pakistan's embattled President Pervez Musharraf to step down, with a second provincial assembly today passing a resolution with an overwhelming majority asking him to seek a vote of confidence from parliament.

The resolution passed in the North West Frontier Province assembly said Musharraf should resign if he failed to take a confidence vote, further proposing that the President be impeached if he did not resign.

The 124-strong assembly adopted the resolution with the backing of 107 members. Only four members of the opposition PML-Q voted against it. It was the second such resolution passed by a provincial assembly in two days.

The resolution said Musharraf had brought Pakistan to the brink of an impasse during his eight-year rule.

The assembly in Pakistan's largest province Punjab adopted a similar resolution against Musharraf yesterday.

A total of 321 members in the 371-strong Punjab assembly voted against Musharraf and asked him to seek a confidence vote in parliament in keeping with a commitment he had made in the Supreme Court last year.

While the adoption of such resolutions by the provincial assemblies does not have any legal implications, the ruling PPP-led coalition is hoping to mount moral and political pressure on Musharraf to quit through such moves.

"The resolutions in the provincial assemblies are aimed at exerting moral pressure on President Musharraf," PPP spokesman Farhatullah Babar said.

Two other provincial assemblies in southern Sindh and southwestern Balochistan will pass similar resolutions this week before an impeachment motion against Musharraf is submitted in the National Assembly or lower house of parliament.

Meanwhile, the committee of leaders of the PPP and PML-N drafting the impeachment motion and chargesheet against Musharraf met in Islamabad again today to finalise the two crucial documents to be submitted in the National Assembly.

Leaders of the ruling coalition have not yet set a firm date for submitting the impeachment motion and some reports have suggested that the PPP and PML-N's top leadership are hoping that Musharraf will quit before the impeachment process is set in motion.

However, Musharraf's spokesman has said the President has no plans to quit and will face the impeachment motion in parliament.