Former Pakistani PM Threatens to Quit Ruling Coalition
By VOA News
21 August 2008
Pakistan's former Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif has threatened to quit the country's ruling coalition if judges fired by former President Pervez Musharraf are not immediately reinstated.
In an interview published Thursday in the U.S.-based Wall Street Journal newspaper, Mr. Sharif says if the judges are not restored, he and his party - Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz - will be forced to sit in the opposition.
The former prime minister also said the leader of Pakistan People's Party (PPP), Asif Ali Zardari, had pledged the judiciary would be restored within 24 hours of Mr. Musharraf's impeachment. Mr. Musharraf resigned as president on Monday before facing impeachment proceedings.
Pakistan's ruling coalition remained deadlocked on restoring the judges, after talks on Tuesday. Mr. Sharif has been adamant about reinstating the judiciary, but Zardari has been reluctant. If reinstated, the justices could take up challenges to a legal amnesty granted to PPP leaders on corruption charges.
Ruling coalition members are expected to meet Friday for a second round of talks that also expected to center on determining Pakistan's new president.
Lawmakers from the PPP have voiced support for Zardari to be the next president. Mr. Musharraf's successor is to be elected by the national parliament and provincial assemblies.
On Wednesday, the opposition Muttahida Qaumi Movement also said Zardari should be the country's next president. It praised the PPP leader for the way he handled Mr. Musharraf's ouster from government.
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