Pakistan coalition chase blown wide open

But divisions within Bhutto’s party over the choice of firebrand Islamic leader Fazal-ur-Rehman as Prime Minister and Wednesday’s postponement of Parliament’s session have made such a coalition look less likely.

Newspapers, commentators and political parties saw the hand of the Army behind the delay, and said Musharraf was creating space for the pro-military Pakistan Muslim League (Quaid-e-Azam), PML(Q), to put together its own coalition.

‘‘Behind all this seems to loom the hovering shadow of what is called the establishment,’’ wrote the Dawn in an editorial.

With the coalition between Bhutto’s Pakistan People’s Party (PPP) and the Muttahida Majlis-E-Amal (MMA) movement of six conservative Islamic parties under pressure, some analysts are tentatively forecasting a government of the PPP and PML-(Q).

Media speculation is rife that Bhutto may accept a coalition which on paper looks unlikely given her fierce attacks on Musharraf in the run up to the election. One carrot the military could dangle before her is a promise to release her husband Asif Ali Zardari, sentenced last month to seven years in prison for corruption and abuse of power. Another would be to allow her to return from self-imposed exile.

Meanwhile, the 15-party Alliance for Restoration of Democracy and religious parties have condemned Musharraf’s decision to defer the National Assembly session for a week, calling it ‘‘immoral’’ and a move aimed at benefiting a pro-government party.

Denouncing the decision, Nawabzada Nasrullah Khan, chairman of ARD, which was opposed to the continuation of Musharraf’s presidency, has said that he would soon call an All-Party Conference (APC) to oppose the postponement.