Pakistan's opposition parties have called for a nationwide strike to press their demand for the resignation of Pervez Musharraf as the country's president and army chief of staff.
The head of the six-party Islamic alliance Muttahida Majlis-e-Amal ,Qazi Hussain Ahmed said Sunday, the strike -- called for September ninth -- will mark the beginning of a struggle to end military rule in the country. In 2003, the Islamic alliance supported President Musharraf's controversial constitutional changes in return for his pledge to stand down as army chief by the end of 2004. But relations became strained after the general reneged on his pledge. Pakistan's hard-line Islamist groups also oppose President Musharraf's support for the U.S.-led war on terrorism and have condemned the recent meeting between Pakistani and Israeli Foreign Ministers in Turkey.