LAHORE, Pakistan: The widower of slain ex-Premier Benazir Bhutto yesterday vowed his party would soon appoint its own president — hinting at President Pervez Musharraf’s ouster in the near future.

Asif Ali Zardari’s comments at a party workers’ gathering in Lahore will intensify the pressure on the US-backed former army chief, who has come under increasing pressure from lawyers and the ruling coalition to step down.

Zardari took over the leadership of Bhutto’s Pakistan People’s Party after her slaying in a suicide attack in December. The PPP went on to win the most seats in February general elections.

“God willing that day is not far when Pakistan People’s Party will have its own president and the presidency will echo with slogans of “Long Live Bhutto,” Zardari told cheering party supporters waving PPP flags.

Former Pakistani Premier Nawaz Sharif on Friday told tens of thousands of supporters of the country’s deposed chief justice that Musharraf, who ousted him in a bloodless military coup in 1999, would be forced to “pay for his crimes.”

It was the biggest protest since Musharraf’s allies lost the February elections, to be replaced in government by a coalition that is led by the PPP and also features Sharif’s party. Lawyers have led opposition to Musharraf since he fired judges, including chief justice Iftikhar Muhammad Chaudhry, under emergency rule in November.

The coalition has vowed to restore the deposed judges but it has been hobbled so far by disagreements over the mechanics since bringing back Chaudhry could lead to a standoff with Musharraf and also threaten an amnesty given to Bhutto’s husband on graft charges.

Sharif pulled his party’s ministers from the cabinet in May over the issue. Zardari also said Bhutto’s killers would not go unpunished and his party will seek revenge for her Dec. 27 killing in a gun and suicide attack in Rawalpindi by “changing the system.”

Opponents of Musharraf, including Zardari’s party, won elections in February and have called for the president to step down. Zardari’s party leads the coalition government and is seen as the power behind current Prime Minister Yousuf Raza Gilani.

Since the new civilian administration came to power more than two months ago, Musharraf, a longtime close US ally in the war against terrorism, has taken a back seat in government but remains an unpopular figure.

Zardari is widely seen as wary of confrontation with the former army strongman, who still enjoys the support of the White House, but he has recently sharpened his rhetoric against Musharraf.

Zardari’s party is proposing amendments to the constitution to strip the president of most of his powers but has stopped short of saying whether it will seek to impeach him.

Sharif, whose party is a junior partner in the ruling coalition, has demanded Musharraf’s ouster and that he be put on trial for allegedly subverting the constitution.

Zardari’s speech yesterday was his first since lawyers backed by Sharif staged a mass rally in Islamabad on Friday to campaign against Musharraf and press for the restoration of top judges he fired.