Musharraf could be impeached: US intelligence

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Posted online: Thursday , February 28, 2008 at 09:18:32

Washington, February 28: Although they do not have the numbers, the two major parties in Pakistan could still impeach President Pervez Musharraf if they get backed by independents, a top US intelligence official has said.

"We are watching very closely now to see how the coalition is formed, who the members will be and who the prime minister might be," the Director of National Intelligence Michael McConnel said.

Stating that former prime minister Nawaz Sharif had "an agenda to impeach President Musharraf", McConnel said that the PPP and PML(N) "do not have the votes to do that, but if they had independents join them, they could possibly have the votes".

On being asked the Chairman of Senate Armed Services Committee Carl Levin about the fairness of the polls, he said "all the reporting I saw was they were reasonably - by Pakistani standards, they were reasonable and fair. The numbers of people voting were a little higher than anticipated and a little higher than average for Pakistan. It was over 40 per cent".

Responding to a question that if the polls were a repudiation of Islamic extremism, he said "What I would highlight is those Islamic extremists that had been serving in the assembly were defeated in this election. So at that level, the parties that won are more secular. So there is some level of repudiating extremism".

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Comments - 1

US support to Pakistan by U N Han on 28 Feb 2008

US support to President Musharraf even after his party's defesat is shocking. Before election Musharrf declared emergency and and got himself elected as President in uniform. All this could be done only with support from Bush administration. US declare itself as a true democratic country. Therefore it is not understood why it tries to prop up a dictator even after his party's defeat. Is it that only a dictator could fight terrorism and fumdamentalism?

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