- ISLAMABAD (Reuters) - Anti-military
parties said on Sunday they had agreed to go into coalition with right-wing
Muslims to form Pakistan's first civilian government in three years.
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- Since elections last month, supporters and opponents
of military ruler General Pervez Musharraf have wooed a group of conservative
Muslim lawmakers, the Muttahidda Majlis-e-Amal (MMA) with 59 seats, to
win a majority in the 342-seat parliament.
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- Nawabzada Nasrullah, the head of the anti-military Alliance
for the Restoration of Democracy (ARD), said his group would back MMA head
Maulana Fazlur Rehman as prime minister.
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- "We have reached an agreement with the MMA to form
the government," Nasrullah told Reuters.
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- "We are in full agreement, including the ARD's support
for Maulana Fazlur Rehman's election as Prime Minister. A formal announcement
will be made any time soon."
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- The ARD includes the Pakistan People's Party of former
Prime Minister Benazir Bhutto and the Pakistan Muslim League faction of
another ex-premier, Nawaz Sharif.
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- PPP spokesman Farhatullah Babar said Nasrullah had been
authorised to negotiate a coalition.
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- "If the Nawabzada says the ARD has reached an agreement
with the MMA, that is the way it is," he said. "Nasrullah was
asked to mediate with all the parties involved so that some consensus could
be reached."
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- Tehmina Daultana, vice president of Sharif's party, said
the former prime minister approved Rehman's bid for the premiership.
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- "All the members of the ARD and indeed the MMA are
united on one simple platform: we are all democratic forces and we would
all like to see democracy restored," she said.
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- SIMPLE MAJORITY
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- Rehman told Reuters on Saturday the MMA would be in a
position to form a coalition with a simple majority with the main ARD parties
and some independents.
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- "We are very positive," he said. "According
to our latest count, we already have 174 seats," he said.
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- However, another senior MMA official, Qazi Hussain Ahmed,
sowed confusion by holding talks with the pro-military Pakistan Muslim
League Quaid-e-Azam (PML-QA) on Saturday, and saying afterwards the two
parties were seeking "middle ground".
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- PML-QA power broker Chaudry Shujaat Hussain appeared
in a sombre mood after the meeting, but said: "We shall be able to
come to a consensus soon."
-
- The PML-QA won the most seats in the election on October
10, but its 103 fell well short of the 172 needed for a majority.
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- It has also tried to woo the MMA, which unexpectedly
emerged as a potential coalition maker after riding a wave of anti-Western
feeling among voters over the U.S.-led war in Afghanistan.
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- Talks between the PML-QA and the MMA stalled over the
MMA's insistence that Rehman should lead any future government.
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- On Saturday, Musharraf summoned the new National Assembly
to meet next Friday and Interior Minister Moinuddin Haider told reporters
he was hopeful power would be transferred to an elected prime minister
by November 14.
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- Musharraf, who seized power in a bloodless coup in 1999,
has been strongly criticised for amending the constitution before the election
to ensure a major role for the military in overseeing the work of a future
government and giving himself the power to dismiss parliament if it becomes
unruly.
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