|
Sharif to join PPP coalition
09/03/2008 16:52 - (SA)
Bhurban - Former Pakistani
prime minister Nawaz Sharif said on Sunday he would join the
late Benazir Bhutto's party in a coalition, raising the prospect
of a government hostile to President Pervez Musharraf.
Bhutto's Pakistan People's Party (PPP) won the most seats in
a February 18 general election, but not enough to rule alone.
Sharif's Pakistan Muslim League (Nawaz), or PML (N), party
came second and while it had promised to support the PPP, Sharif
had not previously confirmed his party would join the PPP in
forming a government.
"It was ... agreed that the PML (N) shall be part of the
federal cabinet," Sharif told a news conference after talks with
Bhutto's widower, Asif Ali Zardari, who took over as PPP leader
after she was assassinated on December 27.
The agreement would appear to dash any hope that US ally
Musharraf might have had that the party that backs him, the
Pakistan Muslim League, which came a poor third in the election,
might join a coalition.
Analysts had previously said Sharif might have wanted to
stay out of a PPP-led government, which is going to have to take
some unpopular economic decisions, in order to be in a better
position to win power in the next election. b>Restore judges
In an ominous sign for Musharraf, Sharif and Zardari agreed
to restore judges who Musharraf dismissed when he imposed
emergency rule in early November, through a Parliamentary
resolution within 30 days of the formation of the government.
The dismissed judges, including the Supreme Court chief
justice, were seen as hostile to Musharraf's October re-election
by legislators for a new five-year term as president while he
was still army chief. The judges are likely to take up legal
challenges to Musharraf if they are restored.
Western allies and Pakistan's neighbours, concerned about
instability in a nuclear-armed state already reeling from
suicide bombings by al Qaeda-inspired militants, fear more
political upheaval if new leaders seek confrontation with the
president.
Hundreds of lawyers across the country launched a week of
protests on Sunday to press for the restoration of the judges.
It was a year ago on Sunday that Musharraf suspended the then
chief justice, Iftikhar Chaudhry, touching off protests.
- Reuters
|
News
