I’m tempted to call this a positive development, but the truth is that there is a great deal of uncertainty about what will happen next:

Pakistani President Pervez Musharraf announced Monday that he will resign, just days ahead of impeachment in parliament over attempts by the U.S.-backed leader to impose authoritarian rule on his turbulent nation.

An emotional Musharraf said he wanted to spare Pakistan from a dangerous power struggle.

“I hope the nation and the people will forgive my mistakes,” Musharraf said in a televised address largely devoted to defending his record.

Musharraf dominated Pakistan for years after seizing power in a 1999 military coup, making the country a key strategic ally of the U.S. by supporting the war on terror. But his popularity at home sank over the years.

But his influence has faded steadily over the past year. He quit the pivotal post of army chief in November and his resignation was widely forecast.

So true.  We mentioned it here.  Let’s get to the important part; who is going to take his place?

In his hour-long address, Musharraf said he would turn in his resignation to the National Assembly speaker Monday. It was not immediately clear whether it would take effect the same day. Mohammedmian Soomro, the chairman of the upper house of parliament, was poised to take over in the interim.

It remains an open question whom parliament will elect to succeed Musharraf, partly because the ruling coalition has vowed to strip the presidency of much of its power.

There is speculation that both Asif Ali Zardari and Nawaz Sharif, the leaders of the two main parties, are interested in the role. However, neither has openly said so.

Alright, let’s find some history on these guys.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Soomro:

Mr. Mohammedmian Soomro comes from a renowned political family of Sindh, that has been active in public life since 1923. His father, Late Ahmed Mian Soomro, was a seasoned parliamentarian, who was Deputy Speaker of the West Pakistan Assembly and a member of the Senate of Pakistan and helped establish the Senate Committee systems there.

Born on 19 August 1950, Mr. Mohammedmian Soomro earned a B.Sc. degree with distinction from Forman Christian College, Lahore. He obtained a M.Sc. in Physics from The Punjab University, followed by a M.Sc. in Operations Management from Northrop University, USA.

An internationally recognized professional banker, Mr. Mohammedmian Soomro held various top positions both at home and abroad in national and international organizations such as Bank of America. He has also been General Manager and Chief Executive Officer of International Bank of Yemen, Faysal Islamic Bank of Bahrain, Muslim Commercial Bank, Agriculture Development Bank of Pakistan, Federal Bank of Cooperatives and National Bank of Pakistan. He won wide recognition for his pre-eminent achievements during his time with these organizations. He was also instrumental in the establishment of Micro Credit Banking in Pakistan.

Being the head of the well-known Soomro tribe, he is known for his strong interpersonal and leadership skills. He is well acquainted with national and socio-political issues and has vast exposure in pol,itical life since his college days.

Mr. Soomro’s Public Service role started with his appointment as a Governor of Sindh on 25th May 2000. During the tenure, he took a number of steps to bring about financial and administrative discipline, as well as to accelerate the pace of economic development in the province and bring about meaningful change in the quality of life of the general populace. During his governorship the people of Sindh witnessed stability and ethnic hormony. Merit, transparency and good governance were the hallmarks of his administration. This was acknowledged by the International donors, when under his leadership, the province of Sindh became the first province is South Asia to be funded directly by the World Bank for restructuring programme.

Sounds good.  He’s certainly not a fundamentalist lunatic with that resume and in fact, he’s currently the interim “caretaker”.  This is the guy in charge at the moment as he is the Chairman of the Senate.  We should watch this guy with interest.

Ali Zardari

Comes from a good family, well-connected; but probably corrupt:

But in 1993, when Begum Bhutto again came in power, all the cases were withdrawn. During this period, Zardari took oath as the Minister for Environment, under Begum Bhutto. During this period too, Zardari was accused of embezzlement of millions of rupees. Zardari did this, under the planning of plantation movement throughout Pakistan. It is now wrong to say that Zardari was so much involved in the corruption, when he was Environment Minister, that he was called as Mr. Ten Percent. Zardari has to remain in jail from 1997 to 2004 because of the accusation of corruption & murder. Today Zardari is not only owner of a big & beautiful golf ground in Islamabad but has many industrial, residential & agricultural properties in Pakistan also. He has grand residential properties & farm houses in Dubai & Manhattan. He is accused of storing the 4.35 dollars property in England, through his corruption money.

Ouch.  Let’s stay away from that guy.

Nawaz Sharif

Probably a bad choice, seeing as how he’s the guy who was running things when Musharraf overthrew his ass in a coup and got this whole thing started.  Both he and Zardari have a favorable connection to Bhutto and that may help.  Whichever one will actually get control of the tribal areas and—more importantly—the damned ISI will get my endorsement, for what it’s worth.  smile

ABC News

UPDATE: Ed Morrissey at Hot Air with some poignant observations:

In fact, the departure of Musharraf could have a salutary effect on the war.  The civilian government has been distracted since its inception in February with the question of Musharraf, keeping the army on edge and generally undermining any hope for a coordinated effort against extremists and terrorists.  Now that the Gilani government has reached its accommodation with the army regarding Musharraf, the two sides can form a more effective partnership in addressing the issues in the FATA with the Taliban and al-Qaeda.

Another specter looms on the horizon, however.  The government in Islamabad has to start any effort against the terrorists by cleaning house in the ISI.  Pakistan’s intelligence service has been thoroughly corrupted by Islamist extremists and has assisted in their terrorist attacks, including the bombing of the Indian embassy in Kabul.  The parliament and the army have to address this cancer within their government before they can effectively fight the extremists in the border territories, and that could prove fatal if the ISI goes completely rogue.