Newspapers urge action after Pervez Musharraf

PAKISTAN: Pakistani newspapers cheered the resignation of Pervez Musharraf as President and said on Tuesday that the coalition government now had no excuse not to tackle a deteriorating economy and militant violence.

Musharraf quit on Monday to avoid impeachment charges, nearly nine years after the key U.S. ally in its campaign against terrorism took power in a coup.

"Solutions, however, may prove more elusive ... But at the very least, the politicians must show the same purpose and focus in dealing with the problems that they have demonstrated in taking on the president," The Dawn said in an editorial.

Dawn said the restoration of judges Musharraf purged last year and the election of a new president had to be addressed immediately. The News newspaper, a fierce critic of Musharraf, said the former president had been unable to acknowledges his mistakes.

However, it said his era did include important success, including expanding the role for women in the public sphere, improving the lot of minorities and a thriving private media. The Urdu-language Jang newspaper called for an end to the "politics of revenge and hatred".

"The coalition has won an important battle so it has to work on an emergency basis to resolve the economic crisis and the announcement of a relief package for the people should be a government priority," it said.

The English-language Daily Times said it was too early for a definitive judgment on Musharraf.

"His legacy is undeniably there and the good that he did must stand, even though this is too emotional and passionate a moment to dwell on it with any degree of objectivity," it said.

Islamabad, Tuesday, Reuters