ISLAMABAD, May 13: Pakistanis are shocked by the split of a six-week-old coalition Government on which they had pinned hopes for stability and change, and fear another bout of political polarisation and turbulence.

Former prime minister Nawaz Sharif, who heads the second biggest party in the coalition, announced on Monday his members were quitting the cabinet after failing to reach agreement with the party of slain former prime minister Benazir Bhutto on the restoration of judges fired by President Pervez Musharraf.

The nine members of Sharif’s party in the government, including Finance Minister Ishaq Dar, handed in their resignations on Tuesday but Prime Minister Yousaf Raza Gilani declined to accept them. He wanted to wait for the return of his party leader, Asif Ali Zardari, an aide said. Zardari was due back from Britain late on Tuesday.

“Loyalists of Musharraf are to be blamed for our decision to quit the Cabinet,” Sharif’s spokesman Sadiqul Farooq said. Farooq claimed that Zardari aides had secret contacts with Musharraf.

Zardari party spokesman Farhatullah Babar denied there had been any back-channel contact with Musharraf and insisted his party remained committed to restoring the judges.

Sharif insists a parliamentary resolution and a simple order from the government would suffice to bring back the justices. But Zardari’s party argues that the law must be changed first to accommodate those judges installed by Musharraf after the purge—an attempt to make sure they do not resist the change.