Musharraf blow as rivals agree to form coalition govt

Pakistan’s hard-line Islamic parties have reached an agreement with a bloc of pro-democracy parties to form a coalition government and choose the next prime minister.

Pakistan’s hard-line Islamic parties have reached an agreement with a block of pro-democracy parties to form a coalition government and choose the next prime minister.

The parties said they would announce their choice for prime minister later today, but officials in both camps say the top spot would likely go to Fazl-ur Rahman, the head of Jamiat-e-ulema Islam, or Party of Islamic clerics.

The agreement is a blow to President Pervez Musharraf.

A party supporting General Musharraf won the most seats in last month’s elections, but fell short of a majority, and the parties have been jockeying for position ever since.

The grouping of religious parties, called the United Action Forum, or Muthida Majlis-e-Amal, came in third on the strength of an anti-American, pro-Taliban platform.

“We have reached an agreement with leaders of Muthida Majlis-e-Amal to form a coalition government,” pro-democracy alliance chief Nawabzada Nasrullah Khan said in Islamabad after talks with leaders of the religious grouping.

However, Khan said “we will announce the name of our joint candidates for prime minister and speaker of the National Assembly after discussing some other matters.”

“We have majority to form a coalition government,” Khan said.

There was no immediate comment from the pro-Musharraf party, called the Quaid-e-Azam faction of the Pakistan Muslim League, on the religious and pro-democracy parties’ agreement on a coalition.