JURIST - Paper Chase: Musharraf faces renewed impeachment calls

[JURIST] Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) [party website] officials released a "charge sheet" Sunday against Pakistani President Pervez Musharraf amid renewed calls from political leaders for his impeachment or outright resignation. The 10-point charge sheet [Daily Times report] details instances when Musharraf allegedly used his executive powers improperly, including November's declaration of emergency rule [PDF text] and the subsequent removal of superior court judges, including the country's Chief Justice and most of the Supreme Court. On Saturday Musharraf declared [Dawn report] that he would neither step down nor go into exile, but would concede to a parliamentary process. PML-N officials and those from coalition leader Pakistan People's Party (PPP) [party website] have disagreed [JURIST report] on how to limit or amend Musharraf's powers, with the PML-N generally favoring resignation or impeachment and the PPP - which currently dominates the governing coalition - favoring working with Musharraf to improve the country's political system. PPP officials took a stricter stance after Saturday's declaration, however, saying Musharraf is only the president by default [Daily Times report] rather than by election. Musharraf won reelection last October but the country's Supreme Court, before the declaration of emergency, was on the brink of declaring that he had been ineligible to run [JURIST return] for a third term while still army chief. AP has more.

On Tuesday, PML-N leader and former Pakistani Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif [JURIST news archive] called for Musharraf to be tried for treason [JURIST report], labeling him a traitor disloyal to Pakistan. Now head of the PML-N party in the country's ruling coalition government, Sharif said that Musharraf should be punished for the "damage" that he has done to Pakistan in the eight years since he led a military coup [BBC backgrounder] and unseated Sharif in 1999.

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