Pak oppn set to back cleric as PM

Ex-Premier Benazir Bhutto’s party and its opposition partners were set today to formally back an Islamist-led future government with a ...

Ex-Premier Benazir Bhutto’s party and its opposition partners were set today to formally back an Islamist-led future government with a once pro-Taliban cleric as Prime Minister, in a bid to throw out President Pervez Musharraf’s controversial constitutional changes.

The Alliance for Restoration of Democracy (ARD), which groups anti-Musharraf parties, is ready to back Maulana Fazlur Rehman for the premiership and forge a coalition with Rehman’s Muttahida Majlis-E-Amal (MMA) Islamic party alliance, ARD members said.

‘‘It is possible that ARD will support Rehman as Prime Ministerial candidate,’’ said Farhatullah Babar, spokesman for Bhutto’s Pakistan People’s Party (PPP), which spearheads the ARD.

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‘‘ARD Chief Nawabzada Nasrullah Khan has said implicitly that he is supporting Fazlur Rehman for Prime Minister. ARD parties have given a mandate to Nawabzada to sort it out,’’added Babar.

Rehman, a former senator, heads the fundamentalist Jamiat Ulema-E-Islam party, which led violent protests against the US bombardment of Afghanistan late last year. He made several fiery pro-Taliban speeches and described Osama bin Laden as a mujahed, or religious warrior.

The JUI is one of the chief parties in the MMA, which won massive gains in the October 10 polls and landed the balance of power in the federal parliament, after pledging to expel US troops and intelligence agents from Pakistan.

A formal coalition between the MMA and ARD parties couldspell the end of pro-government parties’ prospects. The finalisation of the parliament’s 342 seats over the weekend gave anti-Musharraf parties a stronger position than their pro-Musharraf rivals.

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Meanwhile the parliament building and its premises are being dusted down in readiness for a return to use after three years standing shuttered and vacant since a military coup in 1999.

The occasional sound of a handsaw outside hints at three months of frenzied activity by hundreds of workers, who have torn out carpets, upgraded computers and installed new furniture in the assembly hall.

‘‘We really had to do some facelifting, repairs, whitewashing, and upgrading of certain facilities, since for three years there was no parliament,’’ said Anjum Mughal, a spokesman for the assembly secretariat.

The 272 legislators elected in the October 10 polls, plus 70 women and non-Muslims given reserved seats, will take their place in the 342 red leather chairs this Friday to set Pakistan back on the road to democracy.

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It is a day Tahir Mehmood, a security guard for the past nine years, was eagerly awaiting but he could still have to wait a bit longer to find out who his new boss is, as prolonged haggling between the main plitical parties over government formation has yet to reach a consensus.