Pakistan government set to split

[Janbaz]

One of the main parties in Pakistan has announced it is pulling out of the government, just three months after landmark general elections.

Ex-PM Nawaz Sharif says his PML-N is quitting because of differences over the reinstatement of judges sacked by President Pervez Musharraf.

Mr Sharif wants the judges, who became a focus of opposition to Mr Musharraf, to get all their old powers back.

But the biggest party, the PPP, wants limitations on their powers.

Issue-by-issue

"Our ministers will meet the prime minister tomorrow and will submit their resignations," Mr Sharif told journalists in Islamabad after meeting party colleagues.

However, he indicated that he would support the Pakistan People's Party-led government from the backbenches on an issue-by-issue basis. "We will not become part of any conspiracy to destabilise the democratic process," he said.

Mr Sharif said that the coalition had twice failed to meet deadlines to restore the judges sacked by President Musharraf.

Reinstating the judges was one of Mr Sharif's key election promises and his condition for joining the coalition.

But he and his main coalition partner, the PPP, failed to agree on how to do this.

A statement from the PPP called the PML-N move "a pause in the process and not a break in the purpose of restoration of judges".

It said ministries vacated by the PML-N would not be filled and hoped the issue could be resolved "amicably and in a spirit of accommodation and mutual trust".

Differences

The alliance had set Monday as the latest deadline to reinstate the judges, but Mr Sharif and the Pakistan People's Party leader, Asif Zardari, wrapped up talks in London without reaching a deal.

The new government had initially promised to restore the senior judges by the end of April.

Ten days ago, following earlier talks, Mr Sharif announced that all the senior judges sacked by President Musharraf last year would be reinstated on 12 May.

Mr Sharif's party has campaigned for the unconditional reinstatement of the judges.

Mr Zardari wants the reinstatement of the judges to be part of a larger package of constitutional amendments which would include reducing their powers.

President Musharraf sacked about 60 judges - some sitting in the Supreme Court - in November 2007, after declaring a state of emergency.

The Supreme Court had been due to rule on whether his re-election was legal.

They had also been due to rule on a controversial amnesty covering Mr Zardari and his wife Benazir Bhutto, who was later assassinated.

Monday's news came as the Commonwealth decided to re-admit Pakistan as a member.

Pakistan was suspended in November after President Musharraf refused to meet a deadline to lift the state of emergency and resign as army chief.

BBC NEWS | South Asia | Pakistan government set to split

 

[Janbaz]

Nawaz quits coalition government

ISLAMABAD: Pakistan Muslim League-N Chief, Nawaz Sharif Monday formally announced to quit the Federal Cabinet and that ministers of his party will tender resignations to the Prime Minister tomorrow.

Addressing a press conference here after the meeting of the PML-N’s Central Working Committee, he said: “PPP failed to keep its promise and that is why we have decided to part ways with the coalition government.”

PML-N will not sit on the opposition benches for the time being and extend support to the government on the basis of issues, he announced.

You know very well by now that no breakthrough could be achieved on the issue of restoration of deposed judges after holding marathon negotiations with the Pakistan People’s Party, Nawaz Sharif said.

PPP and PML-N committed in the Murree Declaration to reinstate the deposed judges to November 2, 2007 position by passing a resolution in the Parliament within 30 days of coming into power.

“We left no stone unturned to keep our promise made in the Murree Declaration,” he said, adding, “I had to go to Dubai and then London to hold negotiations with the PPP on the issue but to no avail.”

Our ministers will tender resignations tomorrow, Nawaz Sharif said.

He said: “Our standpoint is that the steps taken on November 3 were unconstitutional and illegal. 60 judges were sacked in a single move by General Pervez Musharraf, replacing them with his own under Provisional Constitutional Order.” We don’t accept these PCO judges, he added.

PML-N Chief was of the view that without independent judiciary the problems of the country cannot be resolved.

He vowed to continue the struggle for restoration of judiciary along with the lawyers community, civil society and people.

“We wanted the coalition government to remain intact but were left with no other choice than to walk out because of the deposed judges not being restored,” Nawaz Sharif argued.

He said: “Although no longer part of the government, we will never be part of any conspiracy against it.”

He said PML-N neither accepts pressure from US nor from any other outside country. Our decisions always reflect the aspirations of the people of Pakistan, he added.

President PML-N, Shahbaz Sharif, Javed Hashmi and Raja Zafrul Haq were also present on the occasion.

Nawaz quits coalition government

 

[Janbaz]

Sad.......................sad indeed. A lot of hopes were there on these people! Alas they failed to deliver.

 

[pkpatriotic]

 

[araz]

i think this was bound to happen. Nawaz has been very vociforous over the judges issue. In many ways thisa has been the one thing they have taken a stand on. Asif on the other hand has his own set of problems. Iftiqar Chaudhry is a bit of a loose cannon and financially can not be corrupted. He could cause a lot of problems for the government by opening up the case against the petition and an investigation into the legality of NRO. The President does not want it ,Zardari does not want it. He has tried the minus 1 approach but it does not cut grass with PML(N). Hence the situation.
As to what happens in the future. If the President can get rid of the Chaudhries, he may be able to cobble a party together and PPP may ally with it and ANP and MQM and form a Government. This may lead to stability and may result in a more robust relationship which may last. PPP could continue its regional alliance in Punjab with PML(N) in Punjab or may be ousted. Either way PML may be a force that causes it some difficulties but not necessarily enough to cause it to stop functioning.
Araz

 

[adam-alm]

pakistan will always be pakistan the army is the reall govt.

 

[Tiki Tam Tam]

Partner Leaves Pakistan’s Cabinet


SLAMABAD, Pakistan — In an early sign of instability in the new government in Pakistan, the junior partner in the coalition said Monday that it was withdrawing from the cabinet over the government’s failure to reinstate the Supreme Court judges dismissed by President Pervez Musharraf.

More at:

http://www.nytimes.com/2008/05/13/world/asia/13pstan.html?_r=1&ref=world&oref=slogin

Zardari does not want the CJ reinstated lest the CJ overturns the amnesty for him.

Nawaz Sharif is, on the other hand, all for his pound of flesh for all the indignities heaped on him by Musharraf.

And yet, if he withdraws support, the electorate will never forgive him for creating a chaos that will follow


So, All Quiet Flow the Indus!!

 

[Always Neutral]

NS will not pull the rug. Its stalemate for all the parties including the sacked judges and Gen M. However Zardari has a slight edge on the other three.

Lets see how it plays out. However Pakistan needs an FM urgently.

Regards

 

[Neo]

How serious is Pakistan government split? ​

Nawaz Sharif says he cannot compromise on the judges issue​

Former Pakistani Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif is pulling his party out of the new government. The BBC's Syed Shoaib Hasan in Islamabad looks at why and what happens next.

The Pakistan Muslim League-N decision to quit the cabinet has been on the cards for a while.

So when the party's nine ministers handed in their resignations on Tuesday it did not come as a surprise.

The biggest party in the cabinet is the Pakistan People's Party (PPP). Its leader is Asif Ali Zardari, widower of Benazir Bhutto.

Since the PPP and the PML-N trounced President Pervez Musharraf's allies in February's general elections, Mr Zardari and Mr Sharif have appeared to enjoy an excellent relationship.

And Tuesday's cabinet split may not be as dramatic as it appears.

Mr Sharif says his party will continue to support the government from the backbenches, rather than join the opposition.

Meanwhile, Prime Minister Yousuf Raza Gilani is refusing to accept the resignations until Mr Zardari returns from abroad.

But the question on everybody's mind is whether Mr Sharif's move is just the end of the political honeymoon or if it marks the end of the young love affair between the two parties altogether.

Full powers

Mr Sharif's decision, as he has made clear to journalists, is based on a single point agenda.

This is the reinstatement "with full powers and privileges" of some 60 judges sacked by President Pervez Musharraf when he declared emergency rule on 3 November, 2007.

President Musharraf is said to be looking for a dignified exit​

President Musharraf had accused them of interfering in executive matters and making the running of his government "impossible".

But many here feel his decision was more to do with his own political survival. The top judges were set to rule on the validity of Mr Musharraf's re-election as president.

Emergency rule proved disastrous for the president.

In the ensuing domestic and international pressure he had to lift the emergency and finally fulfil his promise to step down as army chief and become plain Mr Musharraf.

And then his allies took a hammering at the polls.

Many felt that it was a matter of weeks before President Musharraf stepped down or was forced out.

He had placed the judges under house arrest. The first thing the new prime minister did was to reverse that.

All, it seemed, was at an end for President Musharraf.

But subsequent events have shown that he still has a few cards to play.

Exit plans

"That President Musharraf has to go is a given... what he wants is what he calls an honourable exit," explains one analyst. "This means leaving at a time of his choosing rather than being forced out."

The 1999 coup in which Gen Musharraf overthrew Nawaz Sharif​

In this, observers agree, he is backed by the army and his key Western allies, particularly the US.

But if the judges are reinstated with all the powers they had before the state of emergency, that could scupper Mr Musharraf's hopes of a dignified exit.

If they were to rule his re-election invalid and his state of emergency unconstitutional, he could face impeachment and even prison.

It is unlikely that the army, still the most powerful institution in the country, would allow that to happen to one of its former leaders.

Moreover, the United States and other Western countries still see Mr Musharraf as a necessity in Washington's self-declared war on terror.

Prison fears

But the strongest objection to the "full restoration" of the judges comes from Asif Zardari and the PPP.

Asif Zardari is covered by a controversial amnesty​

It has its roots back in the days - not so long ago - when President Musharraf and Benazir Bhutto were working on a power-sharing arrangement that would have sidelined Nawaz Sharif.

In October President Musharraf signed a controversial amnesty that, in effect, cleared Ms Bhutto from a number of corruption charges, but left Mr Sharif still facing prosecution.

Many other PPP members, including Mr Zardari, benefited from the amnesty.

But the Supreme Court judges, before their November sacking, had said they would examine whether the amnesty violated the constitution.

So, if they get their jobs back with full powers, Mr Zardari and other members of the top tier of the PPP could end up behind bars.

Horrible replay

That hasn't stopped Mr Zardari's coalition partner, Mr Sharif, from continuing to push for the judges' "full restoration".

Poverty is a growing problem​

He says he has no choice as he was given a mandate by the people in the February elections in which his party did much better than expected.

"How can we go back on our word when every PML-N candidate made the restoration their first election pledge?" he asked on Monday.

But is it just a question of honouring the wishes of the voters? The reason, many feel, is Mr Sharif's animosity towards President Musharraf.

In 1999, the then General Musharraf, overthrew Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif in a bloodless coup. Mr Sharif and his family were subsequently exiled.

In public, the PPP are making light of Tuesday's cabinet split, with party members describing it as a minor complication that will soon be resolved.

And Mr Sharif says his party will support the government on an issue-by-issue basis.

But this may be bad news for the wider population which cares less about political alliances and more about sorting out more pressing problems, not least the deteriorating economy.

The sight of leaders fighting while problems are unsolved looks like a horrible replay of previous episodes of democratic rule in Pakistan.

The country could be set for an increasingly fractious relationship between the right-wing, urban PML-N and the leftist, rural PPP.

Already some political analysts are predicting dates for early elections.

BBC NEWS | World | South Asia | How serious is Pakistan government split?

 

[Cheetah786]

So how many here wanted to no the reason why Investors were running from Pakistan and the rupee is in free falling to DUM_O_crazy.