The sooner Pakistani President Pervez Musharraf accepts the verdict of the people and steps down the better it will be for him, Musharraf's old foe, former prime minister Nawaz Sharif, said on Monday.Sharif was one of the big winners of last week's election, his party coming a surprise second to that of assassinated former prime minister Benzair Bhutto.While Musharraf did not take part in the parliamentary elections, the main party that backs him came a poor third, largely because of the president's unpopularity and anger over rising prices and food shortages, analysts say.A battle between Musharraf and a new, hostile parliament would prolong instability in nuclear-armed Pakistan just when its Western allies want to see the government focus on problems such as the war against terrorism.Sharif and Bhutto's widower, Asif Ali Zardari, who has led her Pakistan People's Party (PPP) since she was killed on Dec. 27, have agreed to work together to form a government, together with a small, Pashtun nationalist party based in the northwest.Sharif, the prime minister who former army chief Musharraf ousted in 1999, has repeatedly called for Musharraf to quit."The sooner Musharraf realises and accepts the verdict of the people and steps down, the better it will be for him," Sharif told a news conference in Islamabad.Musharraf, elected by legislators for another five-year term in October, has ruled out resigning and has vowed to work with whoever becomes the next prime minister.Pakistan's main stock index set a new life high on Monday, buoyed by optimism that politics was settling down and also from growing interest from foreign investors, dealers said.The KSE-100 has gained more than 5 percent since the election. It is Asia's top performer so far this year with gains of more than 7 percent, though many investors still consider it a difficult and illiquid market.Talks with US envoySharif said members of the three parties that aimed to form the government would meet on Thursday and call for the new assembly to convene soon and for a quick transfer of power.Last week's elections were meant to complete a transition back to civilian rule, eight years after then General Musharraf seized power.Musharraf transferred powers to the presidency, including the power to dissolve parliament, that the new assembly will be keen to re-claim.The Election Commission is due to release final results this week after which the president will call for the new assembly to meet and elect a prime minister - widely expected to be veteran PPP member Makhdoom Amin Fahim, who will form a government.Musharraf appeared to win some respite on Sunday from the calls for him to step down when Fahim told CNN there were no immediate plans to seek his removal."We should not rock the boat at this time. We must have a civil transition of power," Fahim said.But Sharif also repeated a call for the reinstatement of judges Musharraf purged when he imposed emergency rule in November.Musharraf sacked the judges, including then Supreme Court Chief Justice Iftikhar Chaudhry, before they could rule on whether his October re-election by the last parliament while he was army chief was constitutional.Sharif said the judges should be reinstated and should take up the question of Musharraf's eligibility, or else parliament would have to try to impeach him.
