Musharraf resigns

Pervez Musharraf, the precariously US-backed President of Pakistan, resigned yesterday, just hours before the National Assembly was due to decide whether or not to impeach him.

Musharraf stole power from then-Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif in a military coup in 1999, then went on to succeed Muhammad Rafiq Tarar as President of the nuclear state.

He was re-elected in October 2007, and then desperately tried to cling on to power by deposing and arresting the top judges and calling a state of emergency. His most prominent opposer, Benazir Bhutto, was held under house arrest on more than one occasion, before her assassination on December 27, 2007.

In March 2008, however, a true democratic movement swept across Pakistan, with Musharraf trying to take credit. The Pakistan People’s Party’s candidate, Syed Youssaf Raza Gillani, was elected Prime Minister following an election in which the PPP and rivals Pakistan Muslim League (N) united to tackle the major problems facing Pakistan. Their leaders (Sharif and Asif Ali Zardari (Bhutto’s husband and joint-Chairman alongside son Bilawal Bhutto Zardari)) were both ousted in Musharraf’s coup.

The Parliament and provincial assemblies will now be able to vote for a new President. In the meantime, the Chairman of the Senate of Pakistan and former caretaker Prime Minister Muhammad Mian Soomro will act as President.