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Sharif says no to presidency

Musharrafs impeachment not ruled out by US intelligence, 13 die as Taliban hideout destroyed

AGENCIES, Islamabad/ Washington
PML-N chief Nawaz Sharif has ruled himself out as a candidate for the post of president and said his party could become part of Pakistan's new government only if President Pervez Musharraf steps down.
Reacting to reports that he could be made president as part of efforts by the PML-N and Pakistan People's Party (PPP) to form the new government after the February 18 polls, Nawaz said he was not a
candidate for the post
Musharraf faces the threat of being impeached if the two major parties--PPP and PML-N -- get the support of independents, a top US intelligence official has said.
The PML-N had assured the PPP of its complete support in forming the government at the centre, the former premier said, however.
"We have assured PPP co-chairman, Asif Ali Zardari of our full cooperation, whether the PML-N becomes part of the government
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or not," Nawaz told ARY Oneworld news channel.
"We will only become part of government when Musharraf quits the office of president," he said.
Another report says Musharraf faces the threat of being impeached if the two major par-ties--PPP and PML-N--which have joined hands to form the next government get the support of independents, a top US intelligence official has said.
The official said even though the two parties do not have the numbers Musharraf cane be arraigned since PML-N leader and former premier Nawaz Sharif had "an agenda to impeach President Musharraf.
The Director of National Intelligence Michael McConnel told the Bush administration that the PPP andPML(N) "do not have the votes to do that(impeach), but if they had independents join them, they could possibly have the votes".
The ruling coalition needs a two-third majority in a House of 272 to successfully carry out any impeachment The PPP (88) and PML-N (66) together have 154 seats. The Awami National Party (ANP) which has 10 members and an unspecified number of independents have also extended support.
"We are watching very closely now- to see how the coafition is formed, who the members will be and who the prime minister might be, "McConnel said
On being asked by the Chairman of Senate Armed Services Committee Carl Levin about the fairness of the polls, he said "all the reporting I saw was they were reasonably -- by Pakistani standards, they were reasonable and fair. The numbers of people voting were a little higher than anticipated and a little higher than average for Pakistan. It was over 40 per cent".
Responding to a question that if the polls were a repudiation oflslamic extremism, he said "What I would highlight is those Islamic extremists that had been serving in the assembly were defeated in this election. So at that level, the parties that won are more secular. So there is some level of repudiating extremism".
(PTI.AFP)