Commonwealth to readmit Pakistan - source

LONDON (Reuters) - The Commonwealth is to readmit Pakistan, suspended last year when President Pervez Musharraf declared emergency rule, a source in the 53-nation organisation said on Monday.

"They will readmit (Pakistan)," the source told Reuters ahead of a news conference scheduled for later in London.

Pakistan was suspended in November after Musharraf failed to meet a deadline to lift emergency rule and resign as army chief.

The Commonwealth Ministerial Action Group (CMAG) of nine nations, which deals with violations of the organisation's rules on democracy, was meeting in London on Monday to review that suspension.

A spokesman for the group indicated last month that Pakistan may be readmitted when he said many of the conditions had been met. He noted that Pakistan now had a democratically elected government and Musharraf had stepped down as army chief.

The party of assassinated former prime minister Benazir Bhutto won most seats in Pakistan's Feb. 18 parliamentary election and formed a coalition with the party of another former prime minister, Nawaz Sharif, and two smaller parties.

Musharraf stepped down as army chief in November and lifted emergency rule in December.

CMAG, made up of senior government officials from nine Commonwealth countries, was also considering political developments in Fiji, which was suspended in December 2006 after a military coup.

A suspended country cannot take part in Commonwealth meetings and Commonwealth aid and cooperation projects in the country are halted. But the organisation has remained in contact with Pakistan.

The Commonwealth is a grouping of mostly former British colonies with a population of 1.8 billion.