Musharraf Exits, but Uncertainty Remains

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Pakistan Celebrates Musharraf's Resignation

All over Pakistan, news of President Pervez Musharraf's departure from office has been greeted with jubilation.

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Party leader Asif Ali Zardari has remained noncommittal about his interest in the job. Zardari, who was named head of the party after Benazir Bhutto, his wife and the longtime party chief, was assassinated last year, has suggested that a female party member might be Pakistan's president.

The roster of female candidates in a country long dominated by political strongmen is relatively short. Many here speculate that Faryal Talpur, Zardari's sister and a member of Parliament from the southern province of Sindh -- a PPP stronghold -- could top the list. Other potential female contenders include the speaker of the National Assembly, Fehmida Mirza, a longtime associate of Bhutto's.

Parliament has 30 days to elect Musharraf's replacement. Until then, the presidency will fall to the chairman of Pakistan's Senate, Mohammedmian Soomro. A member of Musharraf's Pakistan Muslim League-Q party, Soomro was governor of the southern province of Sindh from 2000 to 2002 and was elected to the Senate in 2003. Soomro, a former banker, was appointed interim prime minister by Musharraf last year, days after he declared a state of emergency in the country. Soomro could not be reached for comment Monday.

The immunity deal that helped ease Musharraf out rankled some members of Pakistan's elite. Aitzaz Ahsan, president of the country's Supreme Court Bar Association, said Musharraf should face trial for treason, an offense punishable by death in Pakistan. Ahsan, who became a staunch and vocal critic of Musharraf after the president last year suspended the chief justice, said Musharraf was "running away from accountability."

"If he's man enough and as he has said he has done nothing wrong, he should stand trial," Ahsan said.

Born in New Delhi in 1943, four years before the partition of India and Pakistan, Musharraf emigrated with his family to the southern Pakistani city of Karachi in 1947. He graduated from the prestigious Pakistan Military Academy, then quickly rose through the army ranks, serving several years with the Pakistani army's elite commando unit.

Musharraf came to power by overthrowing then-Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif on Oct. 12, 1999, amid a highly public falling-out between the two men over a controversial military operation in the disputed territory of Kashmir.

Musharraf promised at the time that military rule would be short-lived and would "pave the way for true democracy to flourish in Pakistan." But in ensuing years, he maintained a firm grasp on power while the country witnessed unprecedented economic growth, boosted in part by aid from the United States. Widely credited with initiating a thaw in relations with rival India and banning the practice of honor killings against women, Musharraf enjoyed strong domestic support during the early years of his rule.

He aligned the country openly with the United States after the attacks of Sept. 11, 2001, though many U.S. officials came to question his commitment. As ire over the alliance grew at home and in the wider Muslim world, his grip on power began to slip. The first signs of trouble appeared last March, when he suspended Supreme Court Chief Justice Iftikhar Mohammed Chaudhry, considered a preemptive move to head off a court challenge to the legitimacy of his presidency.

Month by month, political turmoil escalated. Former prime minister Bhutto returned from exile, only to be assassinated in December; insurgents along the border with Afghanistan stepped up attacks.

Bhutto's death generated widespread anger at Musharraf and sympathy for her Pakistan People's Party, which won a resounding victory in the February national elections.

Last week, Zardari and Sharif, head of the other coalition party, appeared to present a united front after announcing plans to impeach the president. But many here wonder how long the honeymoon will last in what analysts are calling a marriage of convenience.

Ahmed Rashid, a regional terrorism expert and Pakistani author, said he doubts the coalition government is prepared to confront the terrorism challenge within its borders. In his view, the government is likely to remain a junior partner to the military in any future decisions about how to confront extremist fighters.

Yet it is the government, not the military, that is likely to face criticism at home and from its international allies.

"There's going to be enormous pressure on the civilian government from the American administration to get their acts together, to show that they can confront militancy in Pakistan," Rashid said. "It will be a test of the coalition, which I think will fall apart."

Coalition government leaders were expected to meet again Tuesday before making an announcement about their plans for selecting a new leader.

Special correspondent Shaiq Hussein in Islamabad contributed to this report.