Musharraf reconciled to exit - Pakistani govt adviser

Simon Cameron-Moore
Reuters North American News Service

Jun 04, 2008 05:40 EST

ISLAMABAD, June 4 (Reuters) - Pakistan's President Pervez Musharraf, threatened by possible impeachment, is reconciled to stepping down before he is hounded out of office, according to a senior adviser to the new government.

U.S. ally Musharraf, who came to power as a general after a coup in 1999, has probably got a matter of weeks, at most a few months, before the curtain falls, political insiders say.

"He is prepared to go and go with dignity," said the source close to the leadership of the Pakistan People's Party (PPP), which heads the 2-month-old coalition government.

"We will try to make it very dignified," the PPP source said, adding it was politically difficult to be seen helping the disliked president as such a stance risked losing popular support.

Although Musharraf has been a staunch ally in the U.S.-led "war on terror" and launched a peace initiative with India, his exit is unlikely to disturb either so long as Pakistan stabilises.

The United States has good communications with Musharraf's successor as army chief, General Ashfaq Kayani, and the PPP-led government is following through on the peace process.

Foreign allies, including both the United States and Saudi Arabia, are pressing for a transition to civilian-led democracy which avoids further upheaval in nuclear-armed Pakistan.

The army has ruled Pakistan for more than half the country's history since it was carved out of British-ruled India in 1947.

In the post-Musharraf era Pakistan faces challenges beyond the constant threat from Islamist militants linked to al Qaeda and the Taliban.

The new government is grappling with a deteriorating macro-economic situation, and the stock market and rupee have fallen sharply in recent weeks.

PPP leader Asif Ali Zardari, the widower and political successor of the late Benazir Bhutto, has proposed a constitutional package that would strip Musharraf of power, but possibly afford him legal protection from foes who want to see him humiliated.

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