Ruling coalition splits in Pakistan

ISLAMABAD, Pakistan — Pakistan's long-troubled ruling coalition collapsed Monday amid arguments over who should be the country's next president and whether and how to reinstate dozens of judges fired last year.

Former Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif pulled his party out of the coalition Monday and joined the opposition.

The dramatic break came one week after Pervez Musharraf resigned the presidency amid a growing Islamist insurgency, which threatens Pakistan's stability and that of neighboring Afghanistan.

Sharif's Pakistan Muslim League-N blamed Asif Ali Zardari's Pakistan People's Party (PPP) for reneging on a pledge to reinstate dozens of judges Musharraf fired.

The demise of the coalition does not necessarily mean the government will collapse — at least not immediately. Zardari, widower of assassinated former Prime Minister Benazir Bhutto, is expected to rally support from allies and form a new government.

The discord will be a setback for the Bush administration, which has urged Pakistan to tackle the Taliban- and al-Qaida-inspired militancy in the tribal border area, which is a base for the insurgency in Afghanistan.

Sharif's party selected former Supreme Court chief justice Saeed-uz-Zaman Siddiqui to challenge Zardari for president. Siddiqui, a longtime political ally of Sharif, was appointed chief justice of the Supreme Court in July 1999 but was later ousted. A stalwart critic of Musharraf and Pakistan's military and intelligence agencies, Siddiqui is a respected figure in Pakistan's increasingly powerful legal community and could pose a serious challenge to Zardari.

Compiled from McClatchy Newspapers, Los Angeles Times, The Washington Post and The Associated Press