MURREE, Pakistan, 10 March 2008 — Former Pakistani Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif signed a historic joint declaration with Pakistan People’s Party (PPP) here yesterday stating that his party would join the late Benazir Bhutto’s party in a coalition. However, PPP Co-Chairman Asif Ali Zardari did not disclose the name of the next prime minister.
PPP won the most seats in a Feb. 18 general election but not enough to rule alone. Pakistan Muslim League (N) came second and while it had promised to support the PPP, Sharif had not previously confirmed his party would join the latter in forming a government. “It was agreed that the Pakistan Muslim League (N) shall be part of the federal Cabinet,” Sharif told a news conference after talks with Zardari, who took over as PPP leader after Benazir was assassinated on Dec. 27.
In an ominous sign for President Pervez Musharraf, Sharif and Zardari agreed to restore judges who Musharraf dismissed when he imposed emergency rule in early November.
The dismissed judges, including the Supreme Court chief justice, were seen as hostile to Musharraf’s October re-election by legislators for a new five-year term as president while he was still army chief. The judges are likely to take up legal challenges to Musharraf if they are restored.
The agreement between the PPP and Pakistan Muslim League (N) would appear to dash any hope that US ally Musharraf might have had that the party that backs him, the Pakistan Muslim League (Q), which came a poor third in the election, might join a coalition. The two parties said the reappointment of the dismissed judges would occur through a parliamentary resolution within 30 days of the formation of the government.
Western allies and Pakistan’s neighbors, concerned about instability in a nuclear-armed state already reeling from suicide bombings by Al-Qaeda-inspired militants, fear more political upheaval if the new leaders seek confrontation with the president.
‘People’s Verdict’
Sharif, who the then army chief Musharraf ousted in a 1999 coup, has been calling for the unpopular president to step down and said Musharraf had to accept the people’s verdict.
“Musharraf and his cronies have been saying it’s a hung Parliament. Even if it is, it’s against dictatorship,” Sharif told a news conference. “This is the people’s verdict against him .... he should accept the facts and he should not create hurdles and rifts.”
Zardari, asked about his attitude to Musharraf, was more conciliatory, saying he did not believe in “personal agendas.”
— With input from agencies
