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| Musharraf offers full support to coalition | | | Islamabad | Mar 23
Pakistan President Pervez Musharraf has pledged full support to the incoming coalition government, which is being formed by his political opponents.
Addressing at a military parade to mark Pakistan's National Day, Musharraf said ‘a new era of democracy has began with the nomination of Yusuf Raza Gillani Prime Minister of Pakistan’.
Gillani, a supporter of assassinated opposition leader Benazir Bhutto, is likely to be confirmed on Monday. He will lead a coalition government of Ms Bhutto's Pakistan People's Party and former Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif's PML (N) party.
He told reporters in Islamabad that he would need the prayers and co-operation of the entire nation.
Musharraf, a US ally, who came to power as a General in a 1999 coup, suffered heavy losses in the polls and appears increasingly isolated, say analysts.
'The President said ‘he felt proud to have put his homeland on the path of progress.’
‘Whichever new government is formed, it will have my full support’, he said adding that ‘a real democratic era has begun in Pakistan’. "We are proud that during the past eight years, not only we laid the foundation of a real democracy, but also put Pakistan on the path of progress and prosperity.
The BBC's Shoaib Hasan in Islamabad said these remarks are an attempt by Musharraf to reach out to his opponents, who now hold the key to his future.
But the opposition has said repeatedly that it wants Musharraf to resign, and some of its supporters have spoken of impeachment.
Many were jailed or exiled when the now weakened President was at the peak of his power, including Gillani, who spent five years in jail on charges of corruption which were eventually dismissed.
He now is expected to be elected with a big majority on Monday, and then sworn in by President Musharraf himself on Tuesday afternoon.
The new coalition government has vowed to reinstate judges sacked by the President during a state of emergency in November. |
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