WASHINGTON —

Pakistani President Pervez Musharraf, under pressure from the nation’s ruling coalition to impeach him, is expected to resign in the next few days, the Washington Post reported Friday, quoting Pakistani officials. In a dispatch from Islamabad, the Post said, ‘‘His opponents said Thursday that he was unlikely to withstand the current challenge to his presidency.’’ The report came amid growing speculation that Musharraf would step down before formal impeachment charges are filed in Parliament on Monday. Pakistan’s ruling coalition announced last week that it will immediately move to impeach the president for subverting the Constitution. ‘‘One senior Pakistani official said Musharraf’s opening position in preliminary talks about his future was a demand for ‘indemnity and immunity’ from prosecution,’’ the Post said.

Musharraf, who came to power in a 1999 coup, has no plans to leave Pakistan, although the Post quoted some analysts and political associates as suggesting that he could take up residence in Turkey, where he spent several years of his childhood. He has said that if impeached, he would defend himself in parliament. The coalition government says it has the requisite majority in the two houses to carry the impeachment motion. Musharraf is under fire for having twice suspended the Constitution—in October 1999 when as army chief he ousted the government of then Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif, and in November last year when he imposed emergency rule and sacked more than 60 Supreme Court judges.

Kyodo

2 Comments

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  some14some at 12:14 AM JST - 16th August

  US-UK trying hard to help Musharraf escape to S.Arabia (doubtful), turkey how about his birth place India?

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  undecidedbout08 at 01:48 AM JST - 16th August

  This too hurts Obama.

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