DNA

• He may dissolve the parliament

Lahore, Aug 9: While furiously rejecting the ruling coalition’s call to get a vote of confidence from the parliament or face impeachment proceedings, the besieged Pakistani President Musharraf is making frantic efforts to win over the support of the military leadership, without which he won’t be in a position to dismiss the government as well as the National Assembly, this being his only option to counter the impeachment move.

Highly placed sources close to the presidency say in a bid to win the sympathies of the army chief Ashfaq Kayani and other top military commanders, Musharraf is attempting to exploit the recent failed bid by the government to tame the ISI by placing it under the interior ministry’s control. It is important to point out that the ruling coalition government announced its decision to impeach Musharraf the day a two-day corps commanders’ meeting began in Islamabad.

Musharraf has also reportedly offered the rebel vice chairman of the PPP Makhdoom Ameen Faheem to be the caretaker prime minister, after he dissolves the parliament.