Islamabad: President Pervez Musharraf will be removed "when the people of Pakistan ask for it and when parliament acts on it", Pakistan Peoples Party co-chairman Asif Ali Zardari said Friday.

"These are political decisions and you should wait for the right time. It will be done when the people ask for it and when the parliament acts on it," Zardari told reporters at a press conference while replying to a question whether the ruling coalition would impeach Musharraf.

For the last two days rumours have been rife that a special plane is ready to take Musharraf out of the country.

The president met Chief of the Army Staff Ashfaq Pervez Kayani Wednesday midnight for over three hours. Chairman of the Senate Muhammadmian Soomro, who was in London and scheduled to return June 2, has rushed back to the country.

According to the constitution, the Senate chairman acts as president in the absence of the president.

Zardari said that people ask him the question on Musharraf again and again. But "let me make clear that let the political parties decide about it".

He said his party and the Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) were partners in the journey of democracy. He said the PPP believed in the dialogue process while the PML-N's stance was "impatient".

He said only democracy would have a role in the future and Pakistan was standing at the crossroads of democracy at the moment. He said former prime minister Benazir Bhutto played a pivotal role in upholding democratic values and democracy was the PPP's ideological base.

Asif Zardari said that the ruling PPP and PML-N were partners in strenghthening democracy in Pakistan. He said he had held talks with Shahbaz Sharif of the PML-N and both parties were united on the cause of democracy.

 

Source : IANS