Speaking at a press conference, Sharif said it was difficult for his party to remain in alliance with the PPP because of its wrongdoings. The PPP, he said, was involved in corruption.
Sharif said his party had tried to reconcile with the PPP for the sake of democracy but there was no result. “Not a single development project has been initiated by the PPP government,” he said.
According to The Associated Press, Sharif sharply criticized President Asif Zardari’s record.
Asked whether he would like early elections as some in his party and the media are demanding, Sharif said such polls “were neither illegal nor unconstitutional” but did not answer clearly.
Zardari’s party won the most seats in the federal Parliament in 2008 elections, but it has so far failed to make much headway in tackling the country’s massive problems, including rampant militancy and a sick economy.
Tensions between the two parties have spiked in recent weeks over the arrest of an American CIA contractor in the Punjab capital for shooting dead two Pakistanis there. Both have accused the other of mishandling the aftermath of the arrest, which is politically explosive in the country given US demands he must be freed.
But many pundits say while Sharif is happy to see the Zardari government remain weak, ineffectual and unpopular, he does not necessarily want to take over immediately because that would also mean taking over the country’s many problems.
Sharif’s Pakistan Muslim League-N is in the opposition at the federal level, but in control of the Punjab provincial government. It has been joined in a coalition in Punjab by Zardari’s Pakistan People’s Party, which is the ruling party on the federal level.
The Muslim League’s move Friday leaves Zardari’s party without a valuable source of patronage and power in Punjab, home to more than half of the country’s 180 million people.
Its ministers had been lobbying in recent days to try and keep the alliance intact.
It should have no immediate affect on governance at the federal level, where Zardari’s party rules in a coalition with other parties. But it could signal the start of a more aggressive stance by Sharif, whose Pakistan’s Muslim League-N is seen as the party most likely to win elections scheduled for 2013.
