Pakistan Plans Musharraf 'successor'

Pakistan's ruling party has ratcheted up pressure on President Pervez Musharraf to quit by declaring it would soon announce a successor.

Asif Ali Zardari, leader of the Pakistan People's party, told supporters the new president would continue the legacy of his assassinated wife, Benazir Bhutto.

"The day is not far off, my brothers and sisters, when this gathering will be held in the president's house and God willing, your president will be sworn in and he will raise the slogan of 'long live Bhutto'," he said.

But Zardari did not say how he would remove Musharraf, and a meeting on the issue with his uneasy coalition partner Nawaz Sharif today failed to produce any agreement.

Musharraf's fate has become a matter of near daily speculation. In theory he will be in office until 2012, but since his party was trounced in elections in February he has battled against an unremitting chorus of resignation calls.

Most analysts say his demise is a matter of weeks or months ? the question is whether he will jump or be pushed.

Musharraf insists he will neither resign nor allow himself to be turned into a "useless vegetable" - a reference to plans to strip him of his powers. He has dared the government to impeach him in parliament, knowing that it lacks the required majority.

The president's confidence stems from the support of two key allies - the army and the US president, George Bush, whose administration wants to protect its battered Pakistan policy in the run up to the autumn presidential elections.

The obsession with Musharraf's fate has dominated politics at a time of pressing needs ? the economy is nosediving and the country faces an unprecedented threat from Taliban militants ? and it has fractured the fragile coalition government.

Initial attempts by Zardari to coax Musharraf from office cost him popularity points among an impatient public. Meanwhile Sharif, who denounced Musharraf at every opportunity, has seen his profile rise.

As a result the PPP recently aligned its policy with Sharif's by calling for Musharraf to be tried for treason - a crime that carries the death penalty. But as today's meeting in Lahore proved, the issue of how to oust him remains problematic.

Efforts at unity are complicated by a related controversy over whether to restore about 45 judges fired by Musharraf last November.

Sharif has pulled his ministers from cabinet in protest at the PPP's failure to reinstate the judges ? including Musharraf's nemesis, the former chief justice, Iftikhar Muhammad Chaudhry.

After today's talks a Sharif aide said that "one or two more rounds of talks" would be held to narrow the differences between the two sides.