Pakistan's Rival Opposition Parties Agree to Form Governing Coalition

ISLAMABAD, Pakistan, Feb. 21 -- Pakistan's victorious opposition parties agreed Thursday to form a governing coalition in the newly elected Parliament, signaling a break from past political rivalries and imposing a fresh challenge to President Pervez Musharraf, a U.S. ally.

Asif Ali Zardari, co-chairman of the Pakistan People's Party, said his political movement will join forces with Nawaz Sharif, a former prime minister who heads a faction of the Pakistan Muslim League.

Zardari's slain wife, former prime minister Benazir Bhutto, and Sharif were bitter rivals for years but began working in tandem against Musharraf before her Dec. 27 assassination.

But Zardari and Sharif, speaking together from the courtyard of Zardari's home here, pledged to set aside decades of political enmity to address such issues as restoring an independent judiciary in the country of 165 million people. They also reached out to smaller parties that won parliamentary seats in elections held Monday amid fears of violence and vote-rigging.

"We intend to stay together," said Zardari, a former national legislator who, like Sharif, has been accused of corruption in the past. "We intend to be together in Parliament. We will work for Pakistan together. We will make a stronger Pakistan."

The agreement ended weeks of speculation over whether the two men could bring their parties together following the parliamentary elections, which culminated a violent year in Pakistani politics, epitomized by Bhutto's assassination.

The alliance will be a political threat to Musharraf, the former military chief who ousted Sharif in a 1999 coup. The Bush administration has sent billions of dollars in aid to the Musharraf government, which it views as a partner against rising Islamic radicalism in Pakistan and neighboring Afghanistan.

Neither Sharif nor Zardari called directly for Musharraf's ouster, but both made clear they would not enter an alliance with the president's Pakistan Muslim League-Q faction.

"I think the nation today has given out its verdict and that verdict is amply clear, and it is from every nook and corner of Pakistan," Sharif said. "He also understands that. The sooner he accepts the verdict the better it is for him."

Musharraf has said he will not resign as president, setting up a potential showdown between the new parliamentary coalition and his unpopular government that could end with his impeachment.

A sitting president can be impeached if he is judged by a joint session of the Pakistani Senate and National Assembly to have violated the country's constitution or committed gross misconduct. A two-thirds parliamentary majority is needed to remove the president from office, and it is unclear whether the opposition could muster that support.

But many analysts here agree that Musharraf, who stepped down as army chief last year, faces daunting political obstacles.