& çâÌæÚUæð´ ·¤è ¥ôÚU Îð¹Ùæ ÁæÚUè ÚU¹ð´ ¥ÍæüÌ ¥ÂÙð ÜÿØ ÂÚU ŠØæÙ ÚU¹ð´Ð ãæÚU Ù ×æÙð´, €UØô´ç·¤ ·¤æ× ·¤ÚUÙð âð ¥æÂ·¤ô ©gðàØ ·¤è Âýæç# ãôÌè ãñ ¥õÚU ÁèßÙ ·¤æ ¹æÜèÂÙ ÎêÚU ãôÌæ ãñÐ ÖÜð ãè ÁèßÙ ×ð´ ç·¤ÌÙè Öè ·¤çÆÙæ§ü €UØô´ Ù ¥æ°, çÁ™ææâæ ¥õÚU ©ˆâæã ÕÙæ° ÚU¹ð´Ð ŠØæÙ ÚU¹ð´, ÜÿØ ã×ðàææ ¥æÂ·Ô¤ Âæâ ãôÌð ãñ´ çÁ‹ãð´ ÂæÙð ·Ô¤ çÜ° ÂýØæâ ¥æÂ ·¤Öè Öè àæéM¤ ·¤ÚU â·¤Ìð ãñ´Ð

Pressure on Musharraf to convene parliament soon

MPs of coalition partners hold jt meeting in Islamabad

AFP, Islamabad
The winners of Pakistan's elections yesterday demanded that President Pervez Musharraf convene parliament immediately in a joint show of strength against the embattled US ally.
Slain opposition leader Benazir Bhutto's widower and former premier Nawaz Sharif made the demand at the first meeting of MPs from a coalition that trounced the president's backers in the polls on February 18.
"We inform Mr Musharraf that we are not prepared to wait for a
single day more for the assembly to be convened," Sharif said, questioning why Pakistan's election commission had not yet released official results.
Benazir's Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP), Sharif's Pakistan Muslim League-N and the nationalist Awami National Party (ANP) are now close to the two-thirds majority they need to impeach Musharraf.
"We must fight together, we must defeat dictatorship," added Sharif, the man toppled by Musharraf in a military coup in 1999.
Asif Ali Zardari, Benazir wid-
owed husband, said it was time for the new parliament to assemble and restore democracy in "homage" to her assassination in a suicide attack at an election rally in December.
"We are united together to empower the parliament and finish the establishment once and for all," Zardari said.
Security was heavy for the meeting, with sniffer dogs and dozens of police guarding the hotel where the 89 lawmakers from the PPP, 67 from Sharifs PML-N, 10 from the ANP and several independents met.
FROM PAGE 16
The coalition has been wooing several independent MPs in a bid to gain the two-thirds majority, even if it is just to increase the pressure on Musharraf, a bulwark in US efforts to tackle al-Qaeda and Taliban militants.
The coalition gave no clear statement on whether they would seek Musharrafs impeachment, which local media reports say is a source of division between the coalition members.
A second option for the parties is Sharifs earlier suggestion -- that judges sacked by Musharraf under emergency rule in November should decide on the president's fate by ruling on the legality of his re-election last year.
Election Commission Secretary Kanwar Dilshad told AFP earlier that the election results would be officially announced on March 1.