Deadline for Pakistan's ruling coalition to restore judges

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(China Daily)
Updated: 2008-08-25 07:36

The party of former Pakistani Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif is poised to quit the ruling coalition unless judges ousted by ex-President Pervez Musharraf are reinstated by today's deadline, Sharif aides said.

A Sharif lieutenant also volunteered Sunday to contest the election for Musharraf's successor, raising the prospect of a divisive race against Asif Ali Zardari, the widower of assassinated former Prime Minister Benazir Bhutto.

Since forcing Musharraf to quit, Pakistan's coalition government has been split over who should replace him.

Former Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif, center, gestures as he talks to media after a press conference in Islamabad, Pakistan, on Friday, Aug. 22, 2008.[Agencies]

The rift has Pakistan's voters and foreign backers worried that the government is too distracted to tackle rising Islamic militancy and serious economic problems.

Pervez Rasheed, a close aide of Sharif, said the party's leaders would meet today to decide whether to remain in the five-month-old coalition government or join the opposition.

"General opinion in the party is in favor of parting ways," Rasheed said.

Sharif says the coalition must agree on the judges by today if it is to resolve its differences in time for federal and provincial lawmakers to select the new head of state on Sept 6.

Musharraf sacked the Supreme Court judges during a burst of emergency rule in November.

Zardari and Sharif pledged to bring back the judges quickly after routing Musharraf's allies in February elections.

But a debate on how to solve Pakistan's constitutional mess quickly bogged down in political calculations, including whether Musharraf should face trial.

Sharif, who accuses Musharraf of treason, says Zardari reneged on a written agreement to restore the judges within 24 hours of Musharraf's decision to quit last Monday rather than face impeachment charges.

Zardari, head of the main ruling Pakistan People's Party, has accused the judges of being too political, and analysts say he may also fear that the justices could reopen old corruption cases against him.

Zardari on Saturday played down the importance of his agreements with Sharif.

"No contract is binding" in politics, he told the BBC's Urdu language service. "There can be a rethink on anything."

Agencies