Amir Mir

Islamabad: In a major policy shift, the Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP) government has conveyed to President Pervez Musharraf that it was ready to indemnify his November 3, 2007 unconstitutional action of invoking emergency and sacking judges, if he agrees to quit the office of the president.

Otherwise, he has been told that he will have to face the treason charges under Article 6 of the Constitution after which it would be hard for the government to provide him a safe exit.

According to well-placed government sources, the ‘resignation offer’ has been conveyed to Musharraf during recent rounds of negotiations between the Presidency and the Zardari House on the constitutional package that the PPP government is likely to table before the parliament in a bid to reduce the president to a mere figure head and make the prime minister an all powerful figure.

The sources added that the offer came through when the presidency realised that the PPP would restore all the judges and clip the presidential powers. And a powerless Presidency with the pre-November 3 judges back in the saddle was not an acceptable option for Musharraf.

Under these circumstances, the offer to step down in return for his support for the passage of the 18th amendment by parliament came through.

The sources added that Musharraf is demanding a price to agree to the constitutional package and then step down. On the other hand, the PPP leadership is not willing to grant indemnity to Musharraf ’s November 3 action without taking its pound of flesh.

The sources said the PPP leadership would grant selective indemnity but to avoid public backlash it wants Musharraf to step down afterwards.

“What steps of Musharraf will be indemnified is not yet finalised but the constitutional amendment will have a pardon for Musharraf,” the source added.

Source : DNA