Ousted Pakistan Pols Set Conciliatory Tone

Pakistan's outgoing ruling party promised Saturday to support the victors in combating Islamic extremism, while the winners discussed ways to curb President Pervez Musharraf's powers - especially his right to dismiss parliament.

Mushahid Hussain, secretary-general of the Pakistan Muslim League-Q, told reporters that his pro-Musharraf party was prepared to play a "positive, constructive role" after suffering a crushing defeat in last Monday's elections.

The two biggest opposition parties together captured at least 154 of the 268 contested seats in the National Assembly, compared to only 40 for the ruling party. The Election Commission has yet to declare winners in six seats.

With the Pakistan People's Party of Benazir Bhutto and the Pakistan Muslim League-N planning to form a coalition government, Hussain said his party would support the future administration in pursuing "a national agenda above party lines," including "combating extremism and terrorism."

He also said the losers would help the new government develop programs to improve education, health, the rights of women and minorities as well as developing a broad-based foreign policy.

"Relations with Western countries should have the support and sanction of the people of Pakistan," Hussain said.

For their part, leaders of Bhutto's party were holding closed-door strategy sessions over the weekend, discussing their legislative program and preparing for coalition talks with the Pakistan Muslim League-N, headed by former prime minister Nawaz Sharif.

A People's Party statement said discussions included ways to curb Musharraf's powers, including his authority to dismiss parliament. Without limitations, opposition leaders fear that Musharraf, a former army chief, might simply dissolve parliament and call new elections if the lawmakers take actions that he opposes.

"The participants ... vowed to work for the restoration of the parliamentary supremacy by undoing undemocratic provisions under which elected parliaments have been dismissed," the party said in a statement Saturday.

The president has the power to dissolve parliament under an article of the constitution first included under the authoritarian rule of the late President Mohammed Zia ul-Haq. The article was removed after Zia ul-Haq's death in 1988 but reinstated under Musharraf, who seized power in a 1999 coup.

Changing the constitution requires two-thirds support in the National Assembly - more than the two major opposition parties won in the Monday election.

The People's Party also must designate its choice for prime minister before parliament convenes, probably next month. Party officials say the front-runner is veteran politician Makhdoom Amin Fahim, 68, a longtime Bhutto loyalist from Sindh province.

The United States is anxious for the new government to display a commitment to continuing the war against al Qaeda and Taliban-style militias operating in the lawless tribal area along the border with Afghanistan.

The shattering defeat suffered by the ruling party was widely seen as a public repudiation of Musharraf and his eight-year rule, including his alliance with the United States. More than 20 senior Cabinet ministers lost their seats as a further sign of Musharraf's eroding support.

Musharraf has been a key U.S. ally in the war on terror, but his military campaign against militants has further damaged his reputation among many Pakistanis who resent American influence.

Fearing a weakening of Pakistan's anti-terror stand, U.S. officials have encouraged the election winners to work with Musharraf, even though some key opposition figures have called for him to step down in the wake of last Monday's balloting.