Pak hardliners in talks to form new govt

Pakistan's resurgent religious Right, which posted huge gains in last week’s general election on a fiercely anti-American platform, hel...

Pakistan’s resurgent religious Right, which posted huge gains in last week’s general election on a fiercely anti-American platform, held a series of coalition talks on Tuesday with leaders of rival parties.

Fazal-ur-Rehman, secretary-general of the hardline Islamic Muttahida Majlis-e-Amal (MMA) movement of six religious groups, met the leaders of the two largest parties in last Thursday’s poll in Islamabad. He kept his cards close to his chest, but speculation about the composition of the government was rife and centred on whether the MMA would be part of a coalition or sit in Opposition.

General hits out at EU

ISLAMABAD: Pak President Pervez Musharraf has lashed out at European Union observers’ flaying of his controversial changes to the Constitution, Pakistan’s official news agency reported on Tuesday.

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CHAMAN: Afghanistan expressed concern on Tuesday at gains made by Pakistani Islamic parties in provinces bordering Afghanistan in the general election, saying it was a setback to the war on terror. (Agencies)

‘‘We hope these talks will end up in the best interests of the country,’’ Rehman said, after meeting Chaudhry Shujaat Hussain and Mir Zafarullah Jamali, leaders of the Pakistan Muslim League Quaid-a-Azam (PML-QA).

Rehman was also due to meet Makhdoom Amin Fahim, the leader in Pakistan of the Pakistan People’s Party (PPP), which came second. The PPP’s main leader is exiled former prime minister Benazir Bhutto, who accused the military of rigging the election.

Behind the PML(QA), which won 77 seats, and the PPP, with 62 seats, was the MMA with 50 seats, compared with a vote of just two seats for religious parties at the last election in 1997.

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Hours after us troops arrived for the first joint military excercises in five years, the MMA on Tuesday said us military presence had negated the independence and sovereignty of Pakistan.

Pervez Musharraf has said he expects to hand over power to a civilian prime minister by Nov. 1. The rise of the MMA has caused concern in the West and in Afghanistan over how it may affect the US-led hunt for Taliban and Al Qaeda fugitives.