ISLAMABAD: Partners in Pakistan’s ruling coalition led by the party of slain former Prime Minister Benazir Bhutto have agreed on the major issues that have bedeviled their four-month-old alliance, a party official said.
However, they failed to come to any conclusion as they ended their two-day meeting yesterday and left the venue without making any announcement. Asif Ali Zardari of the Pakistan People’s Party (PPP) and former Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif of Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) held meetings with party leaders along with Fazlur Rahman at Zardari’s residence.
A PPP source told Arab News after the meeting yesterday, “The president will be asked to seek ‘vote of confidence’ from present Parliament which is the constitutional obligation.” One of the PML-N leaders said, “it was also agreed that four provincial assemblies will pass no-confidence motions against President Pervez Musharraf.”
“Two leaders held one-on-one meeting for more than one hour. They will resume their negotiations tomorrow,” PPP spokesman Farhatullah Babar told reporters at the Zardari House on Tuesday night. “A consensus has been developed on major issues between the two main coalition partners,” Babar added but refused to give details. “There has been a very positive progress in the meeting.”
Babar further stated “today two other leaders of coalition, ANP President Asfandyar Wali Khan and president of the Jamiat Ulema-e-Islam Maulana Fazlur Rahman, have also been invited.”
A PPP minister told Arab News, “we have also invited legislators so we will have sufficient majority in Parliament if and when the impeachment motion is to be tabled. Otherwise we have the option to ask the president to seek fresh vote of confidence from current Parliament.”
Though having personal reservations against deposed Chief Justice Iftikhar Chaudhry, Zardari on Tuesday night committed that under constitutional package he would reinstate Chaudhry. During an interview with Business Plus, a TV channel owned by Punjab Gov. Suleman Taseer, Zardari assured that the government will restore the deposed chief justice. He said the issue would be resolved soon but refused to give any time frame in this regard.
Sharif, who heads the second major party in the coalition, withdrew his party’s ministers from Prime Minister Yousaf Raza Gilani’s Cabinet in May, after Zardari failed to honor a commitment to restore judges as agreed in a declaration they signed after the elections.
But, after yesterday’s meeting, a Sharif party leader said the next agreement would spell clear terms for the coalition. “This time the modus operandi would be decided and there will be an agreement which will be without any ambiguity ... there are more chances of make and less chances of break tomorrow,” said Khawaja Muhammad Asif.
— With input from agencies
