Pakistan sets date to choose new President

Former Pakistani Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif has agreed to a parliamentary debate on re-instating a group of judges who were deposed last year.Sharif had threatened to pull out of the coalition with the party of assassinated former Prime Minister Benazir Bhutto if the judges were not restored by today.

Sharif’s decision to debate the issue eases some of the pressure which had threatened to split the ruling coalition.

The man who ordered the judicial purge last year, Pervez Musharraf, finally resigned as Pakistan’s President after nine years in power this week.
Pakistan’s parliament and provincial assemblies will choose a replacement on September 6.

As if the turmoil at the seat of power is not enough, the country is also facing an internal security nightmare. More than 60 people were killed when Taliban suicide bombers detonated devices at Pakistan’s main military armaments factory not far from Islamabad.

A Taliban spokesman said it was retaliation for Pakistani military operations against militants on the Afghan border