The New Nation - Internet Edition

AFP, Islamabad

Pakistan's new parliament met for the first time on Monday, with opponents of US-backed President Pervez Musharraf vowing to end his "dictatorship" after beating his allies in elections.

Slain opposition leader Benazir Bhutto's party will head a hostile coalition government after winning the most seats in the February 18 vote, with the grouping of former premier Nawaz Sharif as its junior partner.

Nine years after ousting Sharif in a military coup, Musharraf now faces a fight for his political survival as well as public anger over rising Islamist bloodshed and a host of economic problems.

"This is the last day of dictatorship," Bhutto's widower and de facto Pakistan People's Party chief Asif Ali Zardari told reporters after meeting Sharif in the heavily-guarded parliament building.

"This is our first step. We have conveyed a message to the world community to support democracy, which defeats dictatorship," Zardari said. Sharif said the coalition's strategy was "very clear-our agenda is democracy versus dictatorship. It has to end, it has to be defeated."

Security was tight for Monday's inauguration, following a bombing targeting foreigners at an Islamabad restaurant on Saturday that left a Turkish woman dead and several western diplomats hurt.

The session began with a recitation from the Koran, the Muslim holy book, after which members of the 342-seat national assembly were sworn in, AFP reporters said.

Mourning prayers were also held for Bhutto, assassinated in a suicide attack at an election rally on December 27.

The biggest threat facing Musharraf from the Bhutto and Sharif parties is their pledge to pass legislation within 30 days to restore some 60 judges whom Musharraf sacked in November under a state of emergency.

Musharraf deposed his arch-foe, chief justice Iftikhar Muhammad Chaudhry, and the other judges to ward off legal challenges to his re-election as president by the outgoing loyalist parliament in October.

If the judges are restored, the Supreme Court could overturn Musharraf's re- election.

Ahsan Iqbal, spokesman for Sharif's Pakistan Muslim League-N party, told parliament the election win showed the "people of Pakistan have rejected the step taken on October 12, 1999"-referring to the coup that brought Musharraf to power.

Neither Zardari nor Sharif actually has seats in the assembly, and both had to watch the ceremony from the gallery, seated side-by-side.

An announcement on the country's new prime minister is expected later this week. Zardari is slated to take the post but will need to contest a by-election to become eligible.

The parliament is meeting with Musharraf's popularity at an all-time low, and with his power already weakened by his resignation as army chief in November. His successor has vowed to keep the army out of politics.