By IOL Staff

ISLAMABAD — The Pakistan People's Party (PPP) and the Pakistan Muslim League (N), the two main opposition parties, agreed on Sunday, March 9, to join a coalition government.

"The leadership was of the firm opinion that the coalition partners are ready to form the government and the national and provincial assemblies should be convened immediately," former premier Nawaz Sharif told a press conference with Asif Ali Zardari.

Zardari's PPP has won 87 of the announced 262 seats in the national assembly followed by Sharif's PML-N with 67 seats.

"We feel that the country is on the verge of making history," said Zardari, the widower of slain former premier Benazir Bhutto.

"This was also the desire of Bhutto and we also intend to stick to road to democracy; we are aware of the problems that the country is facing."

The two sides agreed to reinstate judges sacked by President Pervez Musharraf during his emergency rule in November last year.

The judges, including chief justice Iftikhar Chaudhry, would be reappointed through a parliamentary resolution within 30 days of the formation of the government.

The sacked judges were hostile to Musharraf's controversial re-election by the outgoing parliament in October while still army chief and are likely to challenge it.

Musharraf

The PPP and the PML-N asked Musharraf, a key US ally in its so-called war on terror, to convene the new parliament immediately.

The embattled president, who faces a hostile parliament, has promised that the new assemblies would be convened within 10 days.

Despite the coalition agreement, the two parties remained divided on the issue of Musharraf's future.

"We don't believe in personal agenda," Zardari said.

"We are hoping that everybody will work together in harmony in strengthening democracy."

But Sharif, whose elected government was ousted by Musharraf in a 1999 military coup, signaled a different position.

"I don't think we have recognized Musharraf's existence, we consider him unconstitutional and illegal president and would not like our sacrifices that we made during last eight years to go down the drain."

Sharif has been calling for unpopular Musharraf to step down and for the top judges to be reinstalled.

Despite the agreement, there was no clear signal as to who the new prime minister would be.

Makhdoom Amin Fahim, the PPP's long-serving vice president and a Bhutto confident, has been regarded as the frontrunner.

But his absence from today's groundbreaking meeting raised many questions mark about such a possibility.

PPP sources have told IslamOnline.net that party leaders want a prime minister from Punjab, the country's most populous and richest province.

Fahim, who led the party in the 2002 elections in the absence of Bhutto, hails from the southern province of Sindh, her home province.

Makhdoom Yousaf Raza Gilani, a former Punjab national assembly speaker, is believed to be the second best choice for the PPP.

Some observers argue that Makhdoom Shah Mahmood Qureshi, the PPP Punjab president, could emerge as the "dark horse".

Chaudry Ahmad Mukhtar, a former PPP secretary general who defeated the ruling party's president Chaudry Shujaat Hussein in the elections, is also seen as a possible candidate.

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