Pakistani Government To Impeach Musharraf?

This is a developing story, but CNN and other outlets are reporting that the Pakistani government is moving to impeach Pervez Musharraf. A dangerous situation in Pakistan has just gotten that much more unstable.

A closer look at the situation notes that the ruling coalition, which just defeated Musharraf in elections earlier this year is now looking to exert its power and demands that Musharraf hold a vote of confidence in the Parliament or else face impeachment. This is all designed with an intent to force Musharraf to resign:

Two ruling party officials said the course of action was decided upon during marathon talks between party leaders Asif Ali Zardari and ex-Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif.

Both officials divulged the outcome of the two days of talks before the formal announcement at an Islamabad news conference.

Musharraf, who ousted Sharif's government in a bloodless coup in 1999 and then dominated Pakistan for eight years, was sidelined when Zardari and Sharif formed a coalition government after trouncing the former general's allies in February parliamentary elections.

The coalition has a comfortable majority in the National Assembly, so Musharraf would struggle to win a confidence vote. That would crank up political pressure on the US-backed former army chief to resign.

The articles of impeachment would focus on Musharraf's failure to stimulate the economy and undermined a move towards democracy.

Bill Roggio notes how Pakistan remains a dangerous neighbor to both Afghanistan and India. Roggio says that the critical factor is the deteriorating situation in Pakistan and the disastrous failings of the Pakistani military to flush out the Taliban and al Qaeda following yet another one of the Islamists' assassination attempts on Musharraf. The military suffered serious losses and Musharraf concluded that talks were preferable to watching his military suffer yet more defeats at the hands of the Taliban. This only served to embolden the terrorists, and they remain safely tucked away in the safe havens of Warizistan and NWFP - an ongoing and persistent threat to not only Pakistan and Afghanistan, but allows the terrorists to plot attacks against the West and the US.

UPDATE:
As if to underscore the dangerous situation in Pakistan, 200 Taliban thugs attacked a Pakistani outpost. 25 of the thugs were killed, along with 2 Pakistani soldiers.

An attack on a Pakistani military checkpost by some 200 pro-Taliban militants triggered intense fighting that killed 25 insurgents and two paramilitary soldiers near the Afghan border, security officials said Thursday.

The fighting broke out Wednesday in Loi Sam village in the Bajur tribal region, said two army officers and an area intelligence official. All three spoke on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to speak to media.

The terrorists are taking advantage of the Pakistani government's ongoing refusal to crush the Taliban and assert control over the border provinces.