Pakistan coalition meets on Musharraf successor

ISLAMABAD (AFP) – Pakistan‘s ruling coalition met Tuesday to discuss a replacement for President Pervez Musharraf, as the deaths of 41 people in Islamist violence underscored the challenges facing the government.

Key US ally Musharraf resigned after nine years in power on Monday amid coalition threats to impeach him, throwing the onus on the alliance which won elections in February to tackle extremism and a nosediving economy.

A suicide bomber killed 23 people at a hospital in a northwestern town on Tuesday in the first attack since Musharraf stepped down, while five soldiers and 13 Taliban militants died in clashes in a tribal area bordering Afghanistan.

"The leaders will discuss the post-Musharraf resignation issues, including the election to the presidency," said Farhatullah Babar, a spokesman for the party of slain former premier Benazir Bhutto, which leads the coalition.

Local television showed Nawaz Sharif, the prime minister overthrown by Musharraf in a 1999 coup, meeting with Bhutto’s widower Asif Ali Zardari and son Bilawal Bhutto Zardari in Islamabad.

Senate chairman Mohammedmian Soomro, a one-time ally of Musharraf, took over as acting president on Monday and will hold the office until the election of the nuclear-armed nation’s new head of state in 30 days.

Officials say the coalition is considering a candidate from one of Pakistan‘s smaller provinces, including Mehmud Khan Achakzai from southwestern Baluchistan province, and Aftab Shoban Mirani from southern Sindh province.

It could also opt for a female candidate including the speaker of the national assembly, or lower house of parliament, Fehmida Mirza, or Zardari’s sister Faryal Talpur, the officials added.

The coalition faces a more immediate challenge over Sharif’s demands for it to reinstate dozens of judges sacked by Musharraf during a state of emergency in November in order to push through his re-election as president.

Rows over the judges have divided the coalition since they first pledged to reinstate them in May and threaten to split it up for good.

Information Minister Sherry Rehman said after Tuesday’s talks that junior coalition members, including an ethnic Pashtun nationalist party and a hardline Islamist group, wanted 72 hours for more consultations on the issue.

"They are our important partners and played a critical role in our campaign for impeachment. We have conceded to their demand," Rehman told reporters.

Pakistani newspapers on Tuesday hailed Musharraf’s departure — the Daily Times headline screamed "Going, Going, Gone" — but warned that the government must act fast to tackle Pakistan’s problems.

"What is incontestable is that the country must move on from this crisis quickly," said an editorial in Dawn, the country’s oldest English-language newspaper.

But dealing with Pakistan‘s problems could be difficult with the distraction of what will happen to Musharraf after his resignation and whether he will remain in the country.

Speculation swirled that Pakistan‘s army and the United States had brokered a deal with the coalition for him to avoid criminal charges.

Officials from both the coalition and the security services said Musharraf would travel to close ally Saudi Arabia in the coming days to perform the Muslim rite of Ummrah.

A senior coalition official told AFP that Musharraf would then head for London or Turkey, but his aides insisted he would return after his religious duties in the Gulf kingdom.

In Riyadh, the Saudi ambassdor to Pakistan was quoted as saying that reports the kingdom had a plane waiting in Islamabad to take Musharraf were "baseless claims" and "media lies".

Musharraf’s decision to quit came after the coalition said it was ready to press ahead with impeachment as early as Tuesday on charges that reportedly included violating the constitution.

His troubles began last year after his initial attempt to sack the judges sparked mass protests. He declared a state of emergency in November and then was compelled to quit as army chief within weeks.