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Opposition mulls coalition to oust Musharraf

The party of Pakistan's slain former prime minister Benazir Bhutto said yesterday it could woo President Pervez Musharraf's allies to join a coalition government that could drive the former general from power.

The Pakistan People's Party (PPP), which won the most seats in last week's election and has teamed up with the party of former prime minister Nawaz Sharif, said they were considering working with the Karachi-based Muttahida Qaumi Movement (MQM).

If a PPP-led coalition manages to muster a two-thirds majority in parliament, it could seek to remove Musharraf, either by impeaching him or having his election as president last year declared illegal.

PPP spokesman Farhatullah Babar said his party was in talks with the pro-Musharraf MQM, which participated in government from 2002 until last year and enjoys large support in southern Sindh Province, a traditional PPP stronghold.

"The Pakistan People's Party wants to take all political forces along to form the government and is discussing the possibility of cooperating with the MQM," Babar said.

"Consultations are going on within the party and there are different opinions about whether to cooperate with MQM or not, but nothing has been finalized," Babar said.

He refused to reveal the coalition's plans for Musharraf, who has become intensely unpopular in Pakistan as basic commodity prices soar and deadly attacks blamed on al-Qaeda and Taliban rebels escalate.

The elections were overshadowed by the death of PPP leader Bhutto, who was killed in a suicide attack in December that the government has pinned on an al-Qaeda-linked warlord based in Pakistan's troubled tribal region.

"You cannot impeach him right now because you don't have two-thirds majority in the National Assembly and the Senate. Since we cannot do it now, there is no need to say anything about it," Babar said.

Musharraf is seen in Washington as a bulwark against terrorism and US officials say they hope to keep working with him.
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