By AFP,
Islamabad : Pakistani President Pervez Musharraf will go to the Beijing Olympics as planned, officials said Wednesday, hours after he cancelled his departure amid fears that his opponents could impeach him.
The US-backed president had abruptly scrapped a flight to China in the early hours of Wednesday, after leaders of the coalition government reportedly agreed during talks a day earlier to oust him if he would not quit. But in a sign of the turmoil caused by the ongoing cold war between Musharraf and the government, the foreign ministry announced that he would now leave for Beijing on Thursday.
“In view of our special relations with China, the president has decided to attend the opening ceremony of the Beijing Olympics,” foreign ministry spokesman Mohammad Sadiq said in a statement. “The president will now leave for China tomorrow,” he added.
Sadiq and other officials had earlier said that Musharraf would not attend the ceremony, saying that they could not give reasons. He was not immediately available to comment on the change in plans. A presidential aide also confirmed the apparent U-turn, saying that Musharraf “will participate in the opening ceremony of the Olympics and will meet the Chinese leadership and heads of state.” Pakistan and China are close military and political allies.
The announcement came as coalition leaders Asif Ali Zardari, widower of slain former premier Benazir Bhutto, and ex-prime minister Nawaz Sharif, met for the second successive day at Zardari’s house in Islamabad on Wednesday. Pakistani newspapers reported that during the first day of talks on Tuesday they had agreed formally to ask Musharraf to quit and then impeach him through parliament if he refused.
Reports also said they were spurred into action by fears that Musharraf, who seized power in a military coup in 1999, might strike the first blow by dissolving parliament. Zardari had also cancelled a planned visit to China for the opening of the Olympics, said Farhatullah Babar, a spokesman for Bhutto’s Pakistan People’s Party. Sharif and his team left the talks on Wednesday night without making any statement.
Officials said that PPP officials and members of Sharif’s Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz held separate discussions during the evening. Sharif returned to the Zardari’s house late in the night for more talks, officials said. They are expected to issue a joint statement after the latest session, PPP spokesman Farhatullah Babar told state television, denying local media reports that the coalition partners were facing a deadlock.
But a close ally of Musharraf said after meeting the president on Wednesday that there was no concern in the presidential camp. “We will fully defend any impeachment motion,” Chaudhry Pervez Elahi told private Geo television. “There is no panic and everything is normal in our camp.” The president has resisted growing pressure to quit in recent weeks, saying he was willing to work with the coalition to tackle problems such as rising Islamic militancy and soaring food and fuel prices.
The coalition has been split by the twin issues of what to do about Musharraf and how to carry out their pledge to reinstate senior judges sacked by the president under emergency rule. The rift has caused a sense of paralysis in the government, which is under huge US pressure over its efforts to negotiate with Taliban and Al-Qaeda militants based near the Afghan border.