Pakistan president Asif Ali Zardari has no intention of stepping down and there is no possibility of an army takeover due to the worsening political crisis sparked by a countrywide protest by lawyers and opposition parties, a presidential spokesman said on Sunday.
Zardari will not step down as there is no reason for him to resign, spokesman Farhatullah Babar said. The long march launched by the lawyers and Opposition parties is aimed at dislodging the government led by the Pakistan People's Party but it will not succeed, he added.
Babar also ruled out the possibility of the Pakistan Army stepping in to take over the administration.
"Why would he (Zardari) step down? He has been elected in accordance with the constitution by the electoral college comprising all the provincial assemblies and the parliament," Babar told Dawn News channel.
"If the constitution of Pakistan stays, if the country stays, there is no reason for the president to step aside and to resign. Let us therefore dispel this impression – he will not resign. There is no question of that," he said.
Asked about reported differences between Zardari and prime minister Yousuf Raza Gilani, Babar said such a "perception" had been "created deliberately with a view to weaken the system".
He said the PPP's top leadership had always been targeted by their opponents and individuals, like late party chiefs Zulfiqar Ali Bhutto and Benazir Bhutto had been singled out.
Such moves were part "of the overall game to isolate the president from the rest of the party and this is not new," Babar said.
"The party stands behind (Zardari) as it has stood behind Shaheed Benazir Bhutto and Shaheed Zulfiqar Ali Bhutto," he said.
A long march launched by lawyers and Opposition parties like former premier Nawaz Sharif's PML-N party to press the government to reinstate judges sacked during the 2007 emergency entered the fourth day on Sunday.
Sharif defied restrictions on his movement to lead thousands of supporters through the streets of Lahore and has vowed to go to Islamabad to join a sit-in near the parliament.
