ISLAMABAD – President General Pervez Musharraf was finalising a caretaker government yesterday, while his two main rivals opened talks on forming an alliance against him and political unrest worsened and left two children dead, officials said.
Unidentified protesters opened ‘indiscriminate gunfire’ in Karachi, killing two boys aged 11 and 12, police officer Aslam Gujjar said. They were the first reported deaths in unrest since the military ruler declared a state of emergency November 3.Supporters of opposition leader Benazir Bhutto have clashed with police in the same violence-ridden neighbourhood since morning.The protesters, angry at Bhutto’s current house arrest in the eastern city of Lahore, traded fire with police who also used tear gas to try and disperse them.Police said two protesters suffered gunshot wounds and that firing was continuing.The bloodshed will deepen Pakistan’s political crisis on the day that Parliament ended its current five-year term.Musharraf’s concurrent presidential mandate also expired yesterday, though he has extended it by calling the emergency, which suspended the constitution.The caretaker administration will be charged with guiding Pakistan toward parliamentary elections to be held by January 9, even as the country battles spreading Islamic militancy.The army said Thursday that helicopter strikes killed 33 followers of a pro-Taliban cleric in the northern mountain valley of Swat the day before.Officials said four troops died in militant attacks there and in the Waziristan region near the Afghan border.A senior Cabinet minister said that Mohammedmian Soomro, chairman of the upper house of Parliament, was a strong candidate for the key position of caretaker prime minister.”I see him as the caretaker prime minister, but any final decision will be announced by President Musharraf,” Railways Minister Sheikh Rashid Ahmad told The Associated Press.Pakistani media say a retired general serving as ambassador to Turkey and a former central bank governor are also in the running.State television said an announcement was expected later yesterday.The election is supposed to complete the restoration of democratic rule in Pakistan, eight years after Musharraf seized power in a bloodless coup.However, opposition parties and Western governments say the vote cannot be considered free and fair unless the general quickly lifts the emergency, which many in Pakistan equate with martial law.Musharraf seized extraordinary powers on Nov.3 and used them to detain thousands of opposition and human rights activists, purge the senior judiciary and black out independent TV news channels.The United States still counts Musharraf as a stalwart ally in its war on terror.Nampa-APThey were the first reported deaths in unrest since the military ruler declared a state of emergency November 3.Supporters of opposition leader Benazir Bhutto have clashed with police in the same violence-ridden neighbourhood since morning.The protesters, angry at Bhutto’s current house arrest in the eastern city of Lahore, traded fire with police who also used tear gas to try and disperse them.Police said two protesters suffered gunshot wounds and that firing was continuing.The bloodshed will deepen Pakistan’s political crisis on the day that Parliament ended its current five-year term.Musharraf’s concurrent presidential mandate also expired yesterday, though he has extended it by calling the emergency, which suspended the constitution.The caretaker administration will be charged with guiding Pakistan toward parliamentary elections to be held by January 9, even as the country battles spreading Islamic militancy.The army said Thursday that helicopter strikes killed 33 followers of a pro-Taliban cleric in the northern mountain valley of Swat the day before.Officials said four troops died in militant attacks there and in the Waziristan region near the Afghan border.A senior Cabinet minister said that Mohammedmian Soomro, chairman of the upper house of Parliament, was a strong candidate for the key position of caretaker prime minister.”I see him as the caretaker prime minister, but any final decision will be announced by President Musharraf,” Railways Minister Sheikh Rashid Ahmad told The Associated Press.Pakistani media say a retired general serving as ambassador to Turkey and a former central bank governor are also in the running.State television said an announcement was expected later yesterday.The election is supposed to complete the restoration of democratic rule in Pakistan, eight years after Musharraf seized power in a bloodless coup.However, opposition parties and Western governments say the vote cannot be considered free and fair unless the general quickly lifts the emergency, which many in Pakistan equate with martial law.Musharraf seized extraordinary powers on Nov.3 and used them to detain thousands of opposition and human rights activists, purge the senior judiciary and black out independent TV news channels.The United States still counts Musharraf as a stalwart ally in its war on terror.Nampa-AP
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