Pakistan Politicians Begins Process To
Choose New Leader
August 20, 2008
Pakistan's government has started the process
of choosing a new president, election
commission officials have said.
The officials said on Tuesday the ruling
coalition, which defeated Musharraf's allies
in elections held in February, had begun
discussions on who will be the new president.
The move follows the resignation on Monday
of Pervez Musharraf, who was facing
impeachment charges.
The coalition, made up of the Pakistan
People's Party and the Pakistan Muslim
League-Nawaz along with some smaller parties,
will also seek the restoration of senior
judges who were sacked by Musharraf under his
emergency rule in November 2007, the officials
said.
"The election of a new president must take
place within 30 days of the post being
vacated," Kanwar Dilshad, the election
commission spokesman, told the AFP news
agency.
Farhatullah Babar, a spokesman for the PPP,
said: "The leaders [of the coalition] will
discuss the post-Musharraf resignation issues,
including the election to the presidency, the
restoration of judges and the political
situation."
The meeting will take place at the
Islamabad residence of Asif Ali Zardari,
widower of assassinated ex-prime minister
Benazir Bhutto, Babar added.
Uncertain future
Kamal Hyder, Al Jazeera's correspondent in
Islamabad, said that in spite of Musharraf's
resignation, Pakistanis remain uncertain about
the direction in which their country is
heading.
"The ruling coalition has been in agreement
before, so the question is whether they can be
in agreement again.
"The difference is the point of view of
both parties. The PPP was very close to
Musharraf at one time, when a deal was made
with Benazir Bhutto.
"PML-N is trying to regroup and wants to
see how the coalition government can bring
back the judiciary within 72 hours," Hyder
said, referring to a promise made to the
sacked judges by the two coaltion leaders
during polls.
"But Nawaz is an ally of Zardari and
without each other they know they don't stand
a chance, because other parties can also form
a ruling coalition.
Mohammedmian Soomro, the senate chairman
who also served as caretaker prime minister
during emergency rule, is standing in as
acting president.
Quick departure
Musharraf resigned after nine years in
power to avoid the threat of impeachment
charges, which followed accusations that he
violated the constitution.
He said in a televised address: "After
consultations with my legal advisers and close
political friends, for the country and the
nation today, I am deciding to resign from my
office.
"I am leaving with the satisfaction that
whatever I did for this country and the
population, I did with honesty and
commitment."
He is facing an uncertain fate, with
officials from both the ruling coalition and
the security services saying he could travel
to Saudi Arabia in the coming days to perform
Muslim rites.
A senior coalition official told the AFP that
Musharraf would then head for the United
Kingdom or Turkey.
His aides insisted he would return after
his religious duties in the Gulf kingdom.
The government is considering a candidate
from one of Pakistan's smaller
provinces, election officials said.
They cited Sardar Ataullah Khan Mengal and
Mehmood Khan Achakzai, both
from Baluchistan. While Mengal is a Baloch,
Achakzai is a Pashtun.
The coalition could also opt for a female
candidate including the speaker of the
national assembly, or lower house of
parliament, Fehmida Mirza, the officials
added.
But officials in the main coalition parties
said Zardari, though powerful, is too much of
a divisive figure to stand for the presidency.
Meanwhile the issue of the judges continues to
plague the coalition.
Judicial call
It agreed in May to restore the judges -
sacked by Musharraf in order to push through
his allegedly unconstitutional re-election for
another five-year term as president - but has
failed to do so.
Divisions between the coalition partners, who
bickered throughout the 1990s, could further
threaten Pakistan's stability and even herald
fresh elections as it combats a spiralling
economic crisis and mounting Islamist
resistance.
Zafar Jaspal, a professor of internal
relations at Quaid-e-Azam University, told Al
Jazeera on Tuesday that the biggest challenge
for the coalition will be to hold it together
in the coming days.
"The unifying factor between the main parties
was Musharraf. They do not have a consensus on
inflation and there is divergence of opinion
on other issues. It is difficult to see how
they will stick together," he said.
World leaders have urged Pakistan to place a
premium on stability and unity following
Musharraf's resignation.
"President Bush looks forward to working with
the Government of Pakistan on the economic,
political and security challenges they face,"
Gordon Johndroe, US National Security Council
spokesman, said in a statement on behalf of
the US.
Celebrations
Musharraf's opponents rejoiced nationwide
after he announced his resignation, which many
hope will bring an end to a year of political
fighting that has largely paralysed Pakistan.
Stocks rose over four per cent as
celebrations took place across Pakistan.
Special areas, some with wide screen
televisions, were set up in several towns and
cities for people to hear Musharraf's final
address to the nation.
Some of the biggest celebrations were in
Larkana, the hometown of Benazir Bhutto, the
former prime minister who was assassinated in
a suicide bombing in December.
In the northwestern city of Peshawar, near
the country's tribal areas where Pakistani
forces have been battling Taliban and al-Qaeda
fighters, some people opened fire into the air
and chanted anti-Musharraf slogans.
"The euphoria on the streets is quite
evident. This is a man who became very
unpopular," Kamal Hyder, Al Jazeera's
correspondent in Islamabad, said.
Hyder said that the fact that the major
coalition partners have been able to set their
differences aside is a positive change in
Pakistani politics.
"There will be an interim president until a
president can be elected and of course this
will be a president who will not have the
sweeping power that General Musharraf had.
"This will also be a president who will
give all the executive powers to the prime
minister and of course who will return the
sovereignty of parliament where it is supposed
to be."
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