Rifts growing in Pakistani coalition

ISLAMABAD, Pakistan -- Against the backdrop of a lethal strike by Taliban militants, Pakistan's fractious ruling coalition appeared to splinter anew Tuesday after acting in concert a day before to oust President Pervez Musharraf.

Although Musharraf's resignation in the face of an impeachment threat was widely seen as marking the start of a new era, Tuesday's events clearly demonstrated that some unpleasant on-the-ground realities remained unchanged.

In volatile northwest Pakistan, where government forces have been locked in an escalating confrontation with Islamic militants, a suicide bomber entered a hospital emergency ward and blew himself up, killing at least 32 other people, authorities said.

The attack in the town of Dera Ismail Khan, which lies near Pakistan's tribal borderlands, coincided with the most intense fighting in years in some areas abutting the Afghan frontier. The Taliban claimed responsibility for the bombing, demanding that the government call off military offensives in the tribal area of Bajur and in the Swat Valley, about 100 miles north of the capital, Islamabad.

Many of those killed and injured at the hospital were visiting relatives hurt in a separate outbreak of sectarian violence between Shiite and Sunni Muslims in the tribal areas. Some of the fighters were protesting the death of a Shiite leader.

Tens of thousands of civilians have fled the fighting in Bajur and Swat, creating a refugee crisis described by some officials as one of Pakistan's biggest internal displacements ever. Government troops have been using helicopter gunships to raid suspected militant hide-outs in the tribal areas.

Word of the hospital bombing came as coalition leaders met in the capital for their first major policy talks since Musharraf's ouster.

No signs of consensus immediately emerged on the question of a successor for the former president, who until late last year was also the military chief. Under the constitution, a new president is to be selected within 30 days.

Within the coalition, open disagreement flared over the question of reinstating judges fired by Musharraf last year. The junior party in the coalition, led by former Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif, has demanded the immediate restoration of the previous judiciary. But the Pakistan People's Party, led by Asif Ali Zardari, has taken a much more cautious tack, saying many technical issues still need to be resolved before the judges can be returned to the bench.

The full restoration of the judges, including activist Chief Justice Iftikhar Chaudhry, could cause legal complications for Zardari, who took over the party leadership upon the assassination in December of his wife, former Prime Minister Benazir Bhutto.

Closed-door discussions by the coalition over the judges' status became so heated that cameras captured Zardari and Sharif apparently avoiding a handshake as the talks broke up. Pakistani media also reported that Sharif had handed Zardari a 72-hour deadline for action on the judiciary.

Amid the infighting, Musharraf's personal fate remains undecided as well. He said in his resignation speech that he had not struck an immunity deal, though associates had been seeking through back channels to ensure he would not face prosecution for acts committed as president.

Sharif, who was overthrown in a 1999 coup by Musharraf, has demanded that the former general stand trial for treason, but insists he is not motivated by a desire for revenge.

"We cannot forget the crimes he has committed against the nation," Ahsan Iqbal, a senior official in Sharif's party, said of Musharraf.

Zardari and the Pakistan People's Party have shown far less inclination to go after Musharraf legally, saying it is more important to focus on problems such as the faltering economy and the deteriorating law-and-order situation.

During its first five months in office, the coalition has made little headway in formulating a strategy for dealing with Islamic militants. Initially, it tried to negotiate truces with local Taliban commanders in the tribal areas and elsewhere in the northwest -- pacts that for the most part have broken down.

The Bush administration and NATO blamed those negotiations for helping fuel insurgent attacks against Western troops in Afghanistan by militants thought to be using the Pakistan tribal areas as a springboard.

Special correspondent Zulfiqar Ali in Peshawar contributed to this report.

AP-NY-08-19-08 1600EDT