The World - News from Dec. 7, 1988

Pakistani Prime Minister Benazir Bhutto and her political rivals agreed to back acting President Ghulam Ishaq Khan in a vote Monday to choose the nation’s new president. Their support made it virtually certain that Ishaq Khan will win approval for a five-year term from a college of national and provincial legislators. Ishaq Khan, 73, formerly chairman of the Senate, became acting president in August when President Zia ul-Haq was killed in a plane crash. Pakistan’s news agency said that Ishaq Khan “has emerged as a consensus candidate” of Bhutto’s Pakistan People’s Party and the rival Islamic Democratic Alliance.