Pakistan opposition gathers to talk election plan

LONDON, July 5 (Reuters) Pakistan opposition politicians will meet in London this weekend to try to agree on election strategy as President Pervez Musharraf battles his worst domestic crises since he seized power in a coup eight years ago.

Former Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif will host the two-day All Parties Conference aimed at producing an action plan to ensure the general who ousted him steps down before elections later this year.

''The APC is an initiative to remedy Pakistan's deteriorating political situation and to present a viable alternative to the prevailing dictatorship,'' said Nadir Chaudhri, spokesman for Sharif.

Sharif and former Prime Minister Benazir Bhutto have long called for free and fair elections in Pakistan, and to be allowed to return from exile.

Bhutto's absence from the conference, confirmed by her spokesman, will inevitably stir speculation that she is working on some sort of power sharing deal with Musharraf, whereby he is re-elected president and she could become prime minister for a third time, once corruption charges against her are dropped.

However, Bhutto told BBC radio today she had not made a deal with Musharraf.

''There has been a dialogue, but there has not been a settlement, and in the absence of a settlement I can tell you very categorically that General Musharraf is contesting independently, and we are contesting independently,'' she said.

Bhutto is sending a delegation from her Pakistan People's Party, led by chairman Amin Fahim, to the London conference.

Musharraf is feeling pressure on several fronts, and opposition parties are hoping to capitalise on signs of disunity in the ruling coalition.

The president's suspension of Pakistan's top judge Iftikhar Chaudhry in March has whipped up a serious challenge to his rule, uniting lawyers defending the independence of the judiciary and the opposition hoping to gain from the new mood of public unrest in the coming elections.

Musharraf, also army chief, has been a key ally for the United States in its ''war on terror'' but now faces charges of not doing enough to combat a spreading militant influence from tribal regions on the Afghan border into central areas.

Hardline Islamist students are currently involved in a deadly stand-off with security forces in Islamabad after violent clashes followed a series of incidents linked to their radical Pakistani mosque.

The mosque crisis could mean several leaders from a six party Islamist alliance, the single largest opposition block in parliament, end up skipping the London conference.

Regarded as liberals, Musharraf and Bhutto could forge a common front against a rising tide of religious conservatism in Pakistan.

But there are considerable doubts about how long an alliance between two such strong personalities could hold.

There are no easy alliances to be made in Pakistan.

Sharif and Bhutto together formed the multi-party Alliance for the Restoration of Democracy after Musharraf's bloodless coup in 1999, but were bitter rivals through the 1990s.

REUTERS SY HS2104