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Pakistani President Pervez Musharraf. (AP)
Last update - 14:17 18/08/2008
Facing impeachment threat, Pakistan's Mushrarraf announces resignation
By News Agencies
Tags: Benazir Bhutto 

Pakistan's beleaguered President Pervez Musharraf announced his resignation on Monday in the face of an impending impeachment motion by the ruling coalition government.

The former army chief and firm U.S. ally has seen his popularity slide over the past 18 months and has been isolated since his allies lost a February election.

"My resignation will go to the speaker of the National Assembly today," he said in a televised address broadcast live to the nation.
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Musharraf denied accusations that he was an opponent of democracy and cited progress in human rights in his country.

Expectations the former army chief and firm U.S. ally will quit have been mounting since the coalition government, led by the party of assassinated former prime minister Benazir Bhutto, said this month it planned to impeach him.

The president's spokesman had insisted Musharraf would not resign but would face the accusations. He dismissed as malicious reports of the president's imminent resignation and said they were damaging the economy.

But negotiations on an exit for the president have been going on, officials have said, while media have reported important ally Saudi Arabia has been trying to help mediate a solution.

A coalition team has finished drafting impeachment charges and handed them to the minister of law for scrutiny, said Ahsan Iqbal, a member of the drafting team.

Musharraf's announcement was met with excitement and jubilation throughout the country.

Lawyers, who have spearheaded an anti-Musharraf campaign since he tried to sack the chief justice last year, stormed out of courts in the southeastern city of Multan on hearing of Musharraf's resignation, shouting "Down with the American stooge".

However, despite Musharraf's unpopularity, many Pakistanis are suspicious of the civilian politicians - a number of whom have returned to power - who were dogged by accusations of corruption and mismanagement when they ruled in the 1990s.

Some said they feared that with Musharraf gone, the coalition would be beset by infighting between parties that have traditionally been rivals.


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