Cracks in Pakistan coalition day after Musharraf quits

A day after President Pervez Musharraf quit, leaders of Pakistan's fractious coalition government squabbled over the judiciary yesterday and a bomb killed 25 people, underscoring the challenges facing the nation.

Mr Musharraf, the former army chief and key ally of the US in its campaign against terrorism, resigned as President of nuclear-armed Pakistan on Monday to avoid impeachment.

Coalition leaders, who campaigned against Mr Musharraf, met for several hours to set about tackling pressing economic and security problems and to discuss a new President but got bogged down over the fate of judges Mr Musharraf purged last year.

"If they cannot agree on the restoration of the judges in a matter of days, then clearly something is not right with the coalition," said Farid Khan, an analyst at Credit Suisse.

Security is also a huge problem, as the suicide bomb attack at a hospital in the town of Dera Ismail Khan illustrated.

The bomber struck in the compound of the hospital as members of the Shi'ite Muslim minority were holding a protest against the killing of a leader earlier in the day.

Pakistani Taliban claimed responsibility.

Elsewhere in the northwest, 20 militants were killed in a clash, the government said.

The two main coalition parties who must now deal with these problems were bitter rivals through the 1990s when Benazir Bhutto and Nawiz Sharif severed alternating terms as Prime Minister.

Analysts have said opposition to Mr Musharraf bonded the old rivals and his departure could see them drift apart.

Mr Sharif, who heads the second biggest party in the coalition, has been insisting the judges be restored to office. But the party leading the coalition, that of the assassinated Mrs Bhutto, has wavered, partly because the deposed chief justice might take up challenges to an amnesty from graft charges granted party leaders last year, analysts say.