Pakistan's Sharif to join Bhutto coalition

Former Pakistani prime minister Nawaz Sharif agreed today to join the late Benazir Bhutto's party in a coalition.

In an ominous sign for President Pervez Musharraf, Mr Sharif and Asif Ali Zardari, Bhutto's widower and the new leader of the Pakistan People's Party (PPP), agreed to restore judges that Mr Musharraf dismissed when he imposed emergency rule in early November.

The late Ms Bhutto's PPP won the most seats in a February 18th general election but not enough to rule alone.

Mr Sharif's Pakistan Muslim League (Nawaz), or PML (N), party came second and although it had promised to support the PPP, Mr Sharif had not confirmed his party would join the PPP in government.

"The coalition partners . . . undertake to form a coalition together for a democratic Pakistan," Mr Sharif and Mr Zardari, who took over as PPP leader after Ms Bhutto was assassinated on December 27th, said.

The agreement between the PPP and PML (N) would appear to dash any hope that Mr Musharraf might have had that the party that backs him, which came a poor third in the election, might be part of a coalition.

The Awami Nationalist Party, an ethnic Pashtun nationalist party, will also be part of the PPP-led coalition.

The dismissed judges, including the Supreme Court chief justice, were seen as hostile to Mr 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 Mr Musharraf if they are restored.

© 2008 ireland.com