Major U.S. Ally Pakistan President Pervez Musharraf Resigns

Major U.S. Ally Pakistan President Pervez Musharraf Resigns
Musharraf Announced He Would Step Down for the Sake of His Country
NICHOLAS SCHIFRIN | ABCNews.com

~Chip :)'s Note: I bolded text that shows what a strong oppositional party can do to uphold a Constitutional government.

Pervez Musharraf, the former military general who became Pakistan's president and accepted more than $10 billion in aid from the United States to fight the war on terror, resigned in a speech broadcast to the nation today, saying the country would benefit from his stepping aside before impeachment proceedings against him could begin.

"Can the country face more confrontation? Can the country's economy face more destruction?" Musharraf asked during an hour-long address carried live on all Pakistani channels and on Western cable channels. "The honor and dignity of the country will be affected, and in my view, the honor of the office of president will also be affected."

"Therefore, after taking everything into consideration," he continued, "I am resigning from the presidency."

Musharraf took power in 1999 after a bloodless coup, and between that time and early 2007, he received nearly 70 percent approval ratings. But in the last year, he fired the Supreme Court chief justice and imposed emergency rule as the economy dropped and inflation spiked. Today, inflation is running higher than 24 percent, and more than six in 10 Pakistanis wanted to see him go, according to a recent Pakistani Gallup poll.

"We are facing calamity. Everything is expensive. Behind the government is his hand," 20-year-old Adnan Abbasi told ABC News while shopping in an Islamabad market. "When he goes, there will be a new government, and prices will go down."

U.S. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice said in a statement today that "President Musharraf has been a friend to the United States and one of the world's most committed partners in the war against terrorism and extremism. Musharraf made the critical choice to join the fight against al Qaeda, the Taliban and other extremist groups that threaten the peace and security of Pakistan, its neighbors and partners throughout the world. For this, he has our deep gratitude."

But today, with Musharraf gone, the United States fears that the successor will not carry as much sway with the nuclear-armed military and will be less interested in fighting the militants than making peace with them.

His resignation came 10 days after the ruling coalition announced it planned to impeach him, and it frees the coalition to choose a new president. The chairman of the Pakistani senate will temporarily become the new president until the national and provincial assemblies can choose a successor. According to the constitution, the next president must be chosen in the next 30 days.

Musharraf's opponents had indicated that they would be ready to impeach him in the next few days for violating the constitution.

But today, Musharraf said he could defeat any charge they accused him of.

"No charge can be proved against me because I never did anything for myself. It was all for Pakistan," he said. "Unfortunately, some elements acting for vested interests leveled false allegations against me and deceived people."

Musharraf walked a tight rope over the years, confronting militancy and trying to convince his people the battle was for Pakistan and not the United States. And some in the United States criticized him for not doing enough to fight the militancy.

Asked by ABC News' Chris Cuomo in November 2007 whether he could be doing more to catch Osama bin Laden, Musharraf turned the blame back onto the United States.

"We cooperate very well. For if there's a failure, it's Pakistan's failure," Musharraf said. "Please don't accuse us."

The current government, led by the Pakistan People's Party and the Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz, came to power in part by promising to make peace with the militants.

Nawaz Sharif, who Musharraf deposed in a 1999 coup, has publicly criticized the United States policy in Pakistan.

After a recent meeting with the U.S. ambassador to Pakistan, Anne Paterson, Sharif told the media only Pakistanis could decide how to fight militancy,

"I told her that this war, the way you are fighting here, is not in anyone's interest. And we have to look into Pakistan's interests and we don't want our army to fight against the Pakistani state."

"Musharraf has destroyed Pakistan," Sharif said last January. "He is blindly following America's orders. The whole of Pakistan is drowned in blood."

But in his speech today, Musharraf argued that he had always done everything for Pakistan's best interests, and that he was leaving a country that has never been more important to the world.

"Before 1999, where was Pakistan? Pakistan had no international identity. Nobody knew Pakistan. We gave Pakistan a status," Musharraf said. "And when we go abroad, there is some weight in our words. We put Pakistan on the map, gave it importance, gave it status, which by the grace of God is still there."