Feb 21, 2008, 14:03 GMT
Islamabad - Pakistani opposition leaders Asif Ali Zardari and Nawaz Sharif were due to meet Thursday evening to discuss forming a coalition government after their big win in crucial parliamentary elections.
Zardari, widower of assassinated opposition leader Benazir Bhutto, is acting chairman of the winning Pakistan People's Party (PPP) which along with Sharif's Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz won 60 per cent of the vote in Monday's polls, taking 88 and 67 seats respectively from 272 contested seats.
The ruling party of embattled President Pervez Musharraf, the Pakistan Muslim League-Quaid (PML-Q), finished an embarrassing third with 39 seats from the elections, which were seen as a referendum on Musharraf's military rule.
Zardari on Wednesday ruled out a coalition with both Musharraf and the PML-Q, but said he was open to inviting smaller regional parties not linked to the previous government into a coalition.
Earlier Thursday, Zardari met with Asfand Yar Wali, chairman of the Awami National Party (ANP), a secular-left party based in the country's volatile North-West Frontier Province (NWFP).
The ANP emerged as the largest party in the NWFP provincial elections, winning nine of the 272 contested seats in the national parliament. The PPP won 88 seats in parliament and will be tasked with forming the next government and nominating a prime minister.
'We have agreed to work together for the rule of law and the supremacy of the parliament,' Zardari told reporters after the meeting.
PML-Q leaders have accepted the election results and continued to take their lumps on Thursday.
'We open-heartedly accept our defeat and the people's mandate,' Chaudhry Parvaiz Elahi, the PML-Q's candidate for prime minister, told a press conference at his house in Islamabad as anti-government protesters gathered outside. 'We shall wait as we sit on the opposition benches and will give positive criticism.'
Zardari was scheduled to host Sharif at his Islamabad residence at 7 PM (1400 GMT).
Meanwhile, four lawyers were injured Thursday in clashes with riot police in the southern city of Karachi during a demonstration demanding the release of several detained judges and lawyers arrested after Musharraf imposed a state of emergency and suspended the constitution on November 3, 2007.
Tens of thousands of lawyers nationwide are boycotting court proceedings to protest the arrests, as well as the sacking of dozens of Supreme Court and High Court judges by Musharraf, bringing the country's judiciary to a standstill.
Police fired tear gas and used batons to beat the protesters, who threw stones at the officers, Geo reported.
In Islamabad, hundreds of lawyers and pro-democracy activists rallied outside the residence of former Supreme Court chief justice Iftikhar Chaudhry, who was sacked and put under house arrest by Musharraf after he took emergency measures.
Sharif stopped by to address the lawyers, ensuring them that Chaudhry, who is a fierce rival of Musharraf, would soon be released and reinstated after the new parliament convenes.
'The situation has changed now. The Pakistani people have given their verdict against Musharraf,' he said over a microphone to the crowd. 'The time will come soon when we ourselves escort the chief justice and other judges to the courts.'
Your Talkback on this Story