Anti-Musharraf parties to form Pakistan govt

Pakistan’s election winners sealed an agreement today to form a coalition government and said parliament would restore judges ousted by President Pervez Musharraf – further clouding the US-allied leader’s political future.

In the capital Islamabad, police fired tear gas to disperse hundreds of lawyers demonstrating for the reinstatement of the judges, whom Mr Musharraf deposed during a burst of emergency rule last year.

Asif Ali Zardari, the widower of murdered opposition leader Benazir Bhutto, and former Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif, the man ousted by Mr Musharraf in a coup eight years ago, announced their pact after talks at a hill station in Bhurban in the foothills of the Himalayas.

“The coalition partners are ready to form the government,” Mr Sharif said at a news conference, reading from an agreed statement with Mr Zardari at his side.

Mr Musharraf should convene the new parliament “immediately,” Mr Sharif said.

The two parties won a landslide victory in February 18 elections, trouncing Mr Musharraf’s closest allies and raising doubts about the survival of a leading figure in the US-led war on terrorism.

After weeks of talks, they announced a breakthrough on two key issues: the makeup of the coalition and the future of the ousted judges.

Mr Sharif said his party would be part of a federal coalition led by Ms Bhutto’s Pakistan People’s Party, which won the most seats in the parliamentary vote.

In return, Mr Zardari agreed that parliament would vote within a month to restore the judges expelled from the Supreme Court and high courts in November to prevent them from ruling his presidency illegal.