Musharraf won146;t resign, say allies

President Pervez Musharraf will stage a spirited defence against impeachment charges the governing coalition is pursuing against him...

President Pervez Musharraf will stage a spirited defence against impeachment charges the governing coalition is pursuing against him, and has no intention of resigning under pressure, his key allies said on Friday.

Musharraf, who has been president for eight years, faces the first impeachment proceedings in Pakistani history, after the leaders of the two major political parties in the ruling coalition announced Thursday they would seek to remove him.

The grounds for impeachment included mismanagement of the economy, along with Mr. Musharraf8217;s imposition last November of emergency rule and the firing of nearly 60 judges, the party leaders said.

Mushahid Hussain, the secretary general of the Pakistan Muslim League-Q party, which supports Musharraf, said part of the president8217;s defence strategy would be to draw a distinction between himself and the two leaders of the ruling coalition, Asif Ali Zardari, of the majority party in the coalition, the Pakistan Peoples Party, and Nawaz Sharif, the leader of the Pakistan Muslim League-N.

8220;He will say: 8216;Look here, I8217;ve been in office for eight years. I8217;ve made some mistakes, but at least I am not a crook. I have no foreign bank accounts, no properties abroad, unlike the opposition leaders who are gunning for me,8217;8221; Hussain said.

In the 1990s, both Zardari and Sharif faced corruption charges in Pakistan. Hussain said Musharraf would also seek to draw a sharp distinction between himself and Zardari, who served in the cabinet when his wife was prime minister in the 1990s.

8220;What is the choice? It is between President Musharraf and President Zardari. That is the question for 160 million people of Pakistan,8221; Hussain said. Zardari has made it known that he would like to be president, according to Pakistani and Western officials. As leader of the majority party, he could seek the nomination for president.