Caretaker government for Pakistan
Plan unveiled after Musharraf vows to quit as army chief and become civilian president.
Your Views |
“I am very worried and angry – Musharraf should realise that we don’t need him”
Avas, Islamabad, Pakistan
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The interim government will be sworn in on Friday.
The current parliament is the first one to serve its full term in the history of Pakistan.
The caretaker administration will oversee parliamentary elections to be held by January 9.
The opposition, most of whom are either detained, exiled or under house arrest, are considering whether to boycott of the polls, saying they can be neither free nor fair under the state of emergency.
But Farhatullah Babar, a spokesman for the Pakistan People’s Party of Benazir Bhutto, said they had not been consulted.
Pakistani newspapers have tipped the chairman of the senate, Mohammad Mian Soomro, as interim prime minister.
Bhutto-Sharif unity?
Bhutto was served a detention order after she |
The two leaders have agreed to launch a “joint struggle” against Musharraf, said Raja Zafar-ul Haq, chairman of Sharif’s Pakistan Muslim League-N party.
The two spoke on Wednesday by telephone, officials from both parties said.
“She has assured she will continue the struggle against General Musharraf until he resigns from both offices,” Haq told AFP.
“He is not acceptable, neither as president nor as army chief.”
Previous alliance
A previous alliance between the two broke up over Bhutto’s contacts with Musharraf.
Bhutto, who says she has killed off power-sharing negotiations with Musharraf, is currently in the eastern city of Lahore under a detention order, while Sharif leads his party from exile in Saudi Arabia.
Another opposition figure contacted by Bhutto earlier in the week, Imran Khan, the former cricket captain, was moved to Lahore’s biggest prison early on Thursday after being charged under anti-terror laws for protesting against emergency rule.
Imran Khan was held in Lahore after he joined a student demonstration on Wednesday [AFP] |
However, it comes a day after the White House issued a blunt call for Musharraf to relent and on the eve of the US deputy secretary of state’s visit.
Also on Thursday, international news channels BBC and CNN and two local stations returned to Pakistani screens after authorities relaxed a ban imposed under the state of emergency.