Pakistan's fragile ruling coalition on Friday saw the rift between the key partners widening over a controversial gubernatorial appointment in the crucial Punjab province, with PML-N warning that the alliance would be in danger if the PPP took more such unilateral steps.

President Pervez Musharraf on Thursday appointed industrialist and media baron Salman Taseer as the new governor of Punjab on the advice of the Pakistan People’s Party-led federal government.

Former premier Nawaz Sharif’s PML-N, which is ruling Punjab, said it was not consulted on the move. Describing Taseer as a “controversial figure”, the party said his appointment was part of a conspiracy hatched by Musharraf to initiate horse-trading in the province.

PML-N spokesman Siddique-ul Farooq said, “We have not been consulted or taken into confidence. The Information Minister (Sherry Rehman) says they have informed us. There is a lot of difference between informing and taking into confidence.”

The PML-N will boycott Taseer’s swearing-in ceremony on Friday and Farooq warned: “If they (PPP) take further steps like that, the coalition will be in danger.”

Observers said the appointment of Taseer, who served as the PPP’s spokesman in the early 1990s, had further estranged the two parties as it came after the PML-N ministers quit the government in the wake of their differences on the contentious issue of reinstating the judges sacked by Musharraf during last year’s emergency.

Senior PPP leader Taj Haider responded to Farooq’s comments by saying that his party had briefed the PML-N on the appointment even though it was “not obliged to consult” its coalition partner.

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