Former Pakistani prime minister Nawaz Sharif said today he would join the late Benazir Bhutto's party in a coalition, raising the prospect of a government hostile to President Pervez Musharraf.
Pakistan Peoples Party's co-chairman and husband of slain opposition leader Benazir Bhutto, Asif Ali Zardari, right, and Pakistan's Muslim League-N party chief Nawaz Sharif, second right, sit in chairs during a meeting today.
Ms Bhutto's Pakistan People's Party (PPP) won the most seats in a February 18 thgeneral election but not enough to rule alone.
Sharif's Pakistan Muslim League (Nawaz), or PML (N), party came second and while it had promised to support the PPP, Mr Sharif had not previously confirmed his party would join the PPP in forming a government.
"It was ... agreed that the PML (N) shall be part of the federal cabinet," Mr Sharif told a news conference after talks with Bhutto's widower, Asif Ali Zardari, who took over as PPP leader after she was assassinated on December 27th.
The agreement would appear to dash any hope that US ally Mr Musharraf might have had that the party that backs him, the Pakistan Muslim League, which came a poor third in the election, might join a coalition.
Analysts had previously said Mr Sharif might have wanted to stay out of a PPP-led government, which is going to have to take some unpopular economic decisions, in order to be in a better position to win power in the next election.
In an ominous sign for Mr Musharraf, Mr Sharif and Mr Zardari agreed to restore judges who Mr Musharraf dismissed when he imposed emergency rule in early November, through a parliamentary resolution within 30 days of the formation of the government.
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.
Western allies and Pakistan's neighbours, concerned about instability in a nuclear-armed state already reeling from suicide bombings by al Qaeda-inspired militants, fear more political upheaval if new leaders seek confrontation with the president.