Past his shelf-life

The Provincial Assemblies resolution, being tabled in the Punjab Assembly, also asks for his resignation forthwith.

With his loyalists in the PML-Q and its allies including supremo Chaudhry Shujaat Hussain distancing themselves from him and advising him to fight or resign, the game seems to be heavily skewed against Musharraf.

Both the PPP and PML-N coalition parties are working to woo the opposition and are already claiming to have mustered more than the required two-thirds majority of Parliament to oust him.

Sceptics predict that Asif Ali Zardari and Nawaz Sharif will fall out on the issue of who will be the next president. However, it seems to be premature as both party leaders and their junior partners are on the same page about the antecedents of the next president.

Both, contrary to popular speculation, do not fit the bill for the next president. In their recent marathon meetings in Islamabad, both Nawaz and Zardari expressed the desire not to be a presidential candidate.

Broad agreement was reached on a candidate who will be of national stature, non-controversial and preferably from a smaller province. They short-listed a few names but both are tight-lipped about disclosing them at this stage.

The biggest dampener for the president has been the role of the army chief, General Ashfaq Kayani, or rather the lack of a role in determining his fate. Kayani has made it clear on more than one occasion that the armed forces are neutral in the matter and if the political stakeholders want to move against Musharraf in a legal, political or constitutional manner, it is their business.

The fact that Pakistani intelligence longer reports to him makes it increasingly difficult for the president to arm-twist politicians.

There is a widespread perception amongst the legal fraternity that by deciding to impeach the president, the coalition partners have put the issue of restoration of the judiciary on the backburner.

Some sceptics allege that Zardari is not sincere in seeing the impeachment through and it is just a ruse to thwart the judges' issue.

Little do they realise that if the impeachment move comes to a vote and fails, the ruling coalition's goose will be cooked to the extent that it will be difficult for it to contain the crisis, resulting in their ultimate ouster.