Opponents Vow to Curb Musharraf's Power

[February 23, 2008]  ISLAMABAD, Pakistan (AP) -- The leaders of Pakistan's main opposition party vowed Saturday to curtail some of President Pervez Musharraf's broad powers, including his right to dismiss parliament, following their sweeping win in recent elections.

They also mulled candidates for the next prime minister - with a veteran politician reputed to be a consensus builder emerging as the favorite.

The Pakistan People's Party - once headed by assassinated ex-premier Benazir Bhutto - won parliamentary elections this week following a yearlong political crisis that saw the imposition of emergency rule, the purging of the judiciary and the rounding up of hundreds of Musharraf's opponents.

Those challenges have been coupled with rising militant violence in Pakistan, especially in the northwest where al-Qaida- and Taliban-linked militants operate. Musharraf has been a U.S. ally in the war on terror, but his campaign against militants has further damaged his reputation among many Pakistanis who resent American influence.

PPP leaders were considering various proposals in closed-door talks through the weekend. Though a final decision was not expected before Monday, PPP leaders indicated they would push to strip the president of the right to dismiss parliament.

"The participants ... vowed to work for the restoration of the parliamentary supremacy by undoing undemocratic provisions under which elected parliaments have been dismissed," the party said in a statement.

The head of state has the power to dissolve parliament under an article of the constitution first included under the late President Zia ul-Haq. The article was removed after Zia ul-Haq's death in 1988 death but was reinstated under Musharraf, who seized power in a 1999 coup.

The front-runner for prime minister was veteran politician Makhdoom Amin Fahim, 68, a longtime Bhutto loyalist from Sindh province who turned down an offer of the premiership by Musharraf in 2002, said officials and political analysts.

Other possible nominees include Shah Mehmood Qureshi, a top People's Party figure from Punjab province, and former National Assembly speaker Yousuf Raza Gilani, party officials and analysts said.

Shafqat Mahmood, a prominent political commentator and former People's Party spokesman, said Fahim was the favorite in part because the party wanted a prime minister from Sindh province, the Bhutto family stronghold. Both Qureshi and Gilani are from Punjab, the biggest and richest of Pakistan's four provinces.

Fahim "is a consensus builder," Mahmood said. "He would be good in a coalition and in papering over differences."

Fahim, a mild-mannered figure, served as the go-between for Musharraf and Bhutto during her eight years in exile. Fahim turned down the prime minister's post five years ago because Musharraf wanted him to cut his ties to the Bhutto family.

Bhutto's party won the right to pick the new prime minister by finishing first in this week's balloting, claiming at least 87 of the 268 contested seats. The Pakistan Muslim League-N of former Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif trailed in second place with 67 seats, while the pro-Musharraf party took only 40 seats.

Bhutto's husband, Asif Ali Zardari, and Sharif agreed Thursday to form a new government. Together, the two parties have 154 seats - sufficient to govern but not enough to impeach Musharraf.

---

Associated Press writer Zarar Khan contributed to this report.

[Associated Press; By MUNIR AHMAD]

Copyright 2008 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.