By Zeeshan Haider
ISLAMABAD (Reuters) - Pakistan's two main oppositionparties vowed to work together on Thursday to form a governmentafter their election win, raising the prospect of a coalitionintent on forcing President Pervez Musharraf from power.
The U.S. ally has signalled he has no plans to step down,despite his allies' defeat in Monday's election by the PakistanPeople's Party (PPP) of assassinated ex-prime minister BenazirBhutto and the Pakistan Muslim League (Nawaz).
"We will work together to form the government," NawazSharif, another former prime minister whose party came secondin the poll behind the PPP, told reporters.
Sharif made his comments at a joint news conference withBhutto's widower, Asif Ali Zardari, following talks between thetwo men in Islamabad.
Zardari, who has led the PPP since his wife's assassinationon December 27, said he wanted a "government of nationalconsensus" that excluded the main pro-Musharraf party. It camea poor third in the election.
Zardari said that he and Sharif would hold more talks andvowed the PPP and Sharif's party would remain united: "Weintend to stay together, we intend to be together inparliament."
Sharif, ousted by Musharraf in 1999, repeated his call forMusharraf to step down and said he and Zardari agreed on allpoints.
"There is no issue of disagreement between us," he said.
Zardari said on Wednesday that parliament should decidewhether it can work with Musharraf.
The president outraged many Pakistanis when he declared asix-week stint of emergency rule in November and purged thejudiciary, detained activists and gagged the media.
But in an interview with the Wall Street Journal publishedon Wednesday, Musharraf said he was not ready to resign: "Wehave to move forward in a way that we bring about a stabledemocratic government to Pakistan."
BUSH SUPPORT
Musharraf has been one of Washington's top Muslim allies inthe fight against al Qaeda and is vulnerable to a hostileparliament after his supporters' election defeat.
The administration of U.S. President George W. Bush hasurged the next government to work with Musharraf. Washingtonneeds Pakistan, which borders Afghanistan where U.S. andNATO-led forces are fighting Islamist militants, as an ally.
Analysts have said say if the PPP and Sharif's party teamedup, Musharraf could either quit or drag nuclear-armed Pakistanthrough more upheaval as parliament tries to oust him ongrounds he violated the constitution when he imposed theemergency.
Musharraf's critics say his efforts to hold on to powerhave destabilised the country. Neighbours and allies fearPakistan is becoming more volatile.
Nevertheless, Pakistani shares, buoyed by the peacefulpoll, ended at a new closing high, at 14,971.94 points. Themarket has gained 4.3 percent since the election and recoveredthe losses that followed Bhutto's killing.
Since returning from exile in November, Sharif has demandedthe reinstatement of judges Musharraf fired when he imposed astate of emergency on November 3.
Musharraf sacked the judges, including then Supreme CourtChief Justice Iftikhar Chaudhry, before they could rule onwhether his re-election by the last parliament while he wasarmy chief was constitutional.
Western diplomats said the election winners should quicklyform a government before addressing Musharraf's future or thereinstatement of the judges. But they said the message fromMonday's poll was clear.
"In Washington, London and other capitals, people are notin denial about what the message of the elections was," aWestern diplomat in Islamabad said.
(Additional reporting by Augustine Anthony, Faisal Aziz andDeborah Charles; Writing by Robert Birsel; Editing by JonBoyle)
