Islamabad // Pakistan's coalition government partners entered intensive discussions yesterday to find a replacement for Pervez Musharraf after they forced the former military ruler to resign as president. But the talks immediately became mired in the controversy that has threatened to break up the partnership since the government formed after elections in February: the reinstatement of judges sacked by Mr Musharraf last year.
The ruling Pakistan People's Party (PPP) prefers the judiciary be restored through an all-encompassing "constitutional package" that would enable it to hand-pick which judges stay in office and those to be removed. But its coalition partner, the Pakistan Muslim League-N of Nawaz Sharif, the prime minister ousted by Mr Musharraf in a coup nine years ago, has insisted they all be "restored within 24 hours". Javed Hasmi, a PML-N leader, said: "Today is the day for the restoration of the judges." The issue has become an embarrassing thorn between the two parties. In March, when the government was announced, the two parties pledged to restore the judges and the chief justice, Iftikhar Chaudhry, within one month. Mr Musharraf, with whom the PPP had a power-sharing agreement, opposed their reinstatement. So did the PPP's leader, Asif Ali Zardari, because Mr Chaudhry had questioned legislation granting him amnesty on corruption charges. Two weeks ago, however, the coalition partners pledged to restore the judges "within 72 hours" of Mr Musharraf's proposed impeachment. Yesterday, old formulas were discussed on how to reach an agreement. One solution envisages reinstatement of all the judges except Mr Chaudhry. Another includes Mr Chaudhry but only on the understanding that he retires shortly after his reinstatement. Mr Musharraf's resignation has presented the coalition government with new, as well as old, problems. In his emotional resignation announcement, which was broadcast on television on Monday, he said was stepping down to avoid impeachment charges after nine years in power. But his departure has thrown a burden of responsibility on the shaky coalition government to deal with the nuclear-armed country's woes. Mr Musharraf's fate is unclear. There is speculation he may still leave the country. Some reports claim that he will fly to Saudi Arabia, where he will perform the religious pilgrimage of umra, before moving on to another country, possibly the UK or Turkey It appears that a deal brokered by Pakistan's military and the US will ensure that neither the PPP nor the PML-N will make him face criminal charges. The details of the deal were secret. The PPP's law minister, Farooq H Naek, denied that a deal with Mr Musharraf had been struck. "He resigned himself and as far as his accountability is concerned, coalition partners will decide." Human Rights Watch yesterday urged the government to undo the "unlawful acts" of the former president and to hold him accountable for his "crimes". "Musharraf's brazen disrespect for human rights and the rule of law for nearly a decade finally caught up with him," said Ali Dayan Hasan, senior South Asia researcher at the international rights group, which is based in New York. The choice of a new president must be made within a month of Mr Musharraf's departure. The senate chairman, Mohammedmian Soomro, a one-time ally of Mr Musharraf, took over as acting president on Monday and will hold the office until the election of a new head of state. Candidates for president have not been made public. Newspaper reports suggested that a candidate from one of Pakistan's smaller provinces, including Mehmud Khan Achakzai from southwestern Baluchistan province, and Aftab Shoban Mirani, a PPP member from the southern province of Sindh, may be put forward. Mr Zardari, who would also like to present himself as a candidate, speculated last week that a female candidate would also be a possibility for the job. He has insisted that the president should be from the PPP. Female candidates may include the speaker of the national assembly, or lower house of parliament, Fehmida Mirza, or Mr Zardari's sister Faryal Talpur. Najam Sethi, a political analyst and newspaper editor, painted a bleak picture of the government's chances of quickly resolving the judges' issue or agreeing on a new president. "While the two sides wrangle in the full glare of the media, two critical issues are likely to fall by the wayside. The first has to do with bread-and-butter issues ? the second has to do with the war on terror which concerns America and the Pakistan army," he said. "This is an unpopular war. That is why the army and Mr Musharraf quickly handed over its "ownership" to the civilians shortly after the government was formed. I don't think Mr Zardari will have the time or the inclination to articulate an antiterror policy that satisfies America," he added. Mr Sethi said the US will probably take further unilateral action on Pakistani soil "regardless of its blowback on Mr Zardari". "What is incontestable is that the country must move on from this crisis quickly," said an editorial in Dawn, the country's oldest English-language newspaper. @email:iwilkinson@thenational.ae