標題:Pakistan’s Musharraf announces resignation By Farhan Bokhari in Islamabad Published: August 18 2008 06:57 | Last updated: August 18 2008 12:50 Pakistan’s embattled president Pervez Musharraf, under mounting pressure to quit in the face of an impeachment motion by the ruling coalition government, announced his resignation on Monday. ”My resignation will go to the speaker of the National Assembly today,” he said in a televised address most of which was devoted to a lengthy defence of his nine years in office. Mr Musharraf’s speech came twelve days after leaders of Pakistan’s ruling coalition government announced plans to impeach him on unspecified charges including alleged violations of the constitution. “Even if a move to impeach me is defeated, the government’s relations with the president’s office will be ridden with friction and there will be tension surrounding the key institutions,” the 64-year-old former army chief of staff said in a speech on national television. “It is even possible that there are frictions between parliament and judiciary and, God forbid, this situation could even drag in the army,” he warned. ”In the interest of Pakistan I have decided to resign.” It was not immediately clear whether Mr Musharraf would remain in Pakistan or go into exile, as has been widely speculated. However, shares in Karachi rose sharply on Monday as investors welcomed Monday ’s development and the rupee, which has fallen more than 20 per cent this year against the dollar, advanced. But the spread on credit default swaps or insurance against Pakistan defaulting on its debt was unchanged at about 740 points, up from 410 points earlier in the year. A senior government official with some knowledge of Mr Musharraf’s recent background discussions with ruling politicians said the president may spend the next few weeks at his farm house in Islamabad. However, he said it was likely Mr Musharraf would eventually go into exile because “it was unlikely to provide now the former president with the same security that he got when he was the president”. Turkey, Dubai, Saudi Arabia, the UK and the US have been mentioned as possible destinations for Mr Musharraf. Mr Musharraf, long regarded as the point man for the US in the war on terror, has survived three assassination attempts during his nine-year rule, all of them believed to be linked to Al-Qaeda. Additional reporting by agencies Copyright The Financial Times Limited 2008 Pakistan’s Musharraf announces resignation http://www.ft.com/cms/s/0/51ae7ed8-6ce9-11dd-857b-0000779fd18c.html 新聞來源: (需有正確連結) -- --

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