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.
MINERAL DEPOSITS: The Pacific nation is looking for new foreign partners after its agreement with Canada’s Metals Co was terminated ‘mutually’ at the end of last year Pacific nation Kiribati says it is exploring a deep-sea mining partnership with China, dangling access to a vast patch of Pacific Ocean harboring coveted metals and minerals. Beijing has been ramping up efforts to court Pacific nations sitting on lucrative seafloor deposits of cobalt, nickel and copper — recently inking a cooperation deal with Cook Islands. Kiribati opened discussions with Chinese Ambassador Zhou Limin (周立民) after a longstanding agreement with leading deep-sea mining outfit The Metals Co fell through. “The talk provides an exciting opportunity to explore potential collaboration for the sustainable exploration of the deep-ocean resources in Kiribati,” the government said
Romania’s electoral commission on Saturday excluded a second far-right hopeful, Diana Sosoaca, from May’s presidential election, amid rising tension in the run-up to the May rerun of the poll. Earlier this month, Romania’s Central Electoral Bureau barred Calin Georgescu, an independent who was polling at about 40 percent ahead of the rerun election. Georgescu, a fierce EU and NATO critic, shot to prominence in November last year when he unexpectedly topped a first round of presidential voting. However, Romania’s constitutional court annulled the election after claims of Russian interference and a “massive” social media promotion in his favor. On Saturday, an electoral commission statement
Chinese authorities increased pressure on CK Hutchison Holdings Ltd over its plan to sell its Panama ports stake by sharing a second newspaper commentary attacking the deal. The Hong Kong and Macau Affairs Office on Saturday reposted a commentary originally published in Ta Kung Pao, saying the planned sale of the ports by the Hong Kong company had triggered deep concerns among Chinese people and questioned whether the deal was harming China and aiding evil. “Why were so many important ports transferred to ill-intentioned US forces so easily? What kind of political calculations are hidden in the so-called commercial behavior on the
The head of Shin Bet, Israel’s domestic intelligence agency, was sacked yesterday, days after Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said he no longer trusts him, and fallout from a report on the Oct. 7, 2023, Hamas attack. “The Government unanimously approved Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s proposal to end ISA Director Ronen Bar’s term of office,” a statement said. He is to leave his post when his successor is appointed by April 10 at the latest, the statement said. Netanyahu on Sunday cited an “ongoing lack of trust” as the reason for moving to dismiss Bar, who joined the agency in 1993. Bar, meant to
RSS