Cracks widen as Zardari puts foot in presidential door

Islamabad, August 24: The crisis encircling Pakistan’s fragile ruling coalition reached a boiling point on Sunday with the PPP refusing to comply with PML-N’s demand on reinstating sacked judges within a deadline and the ally also not enthusiastic about supporting Asif Ali Zardari for Presidency.

PPP Chairman Zardari said his understanding with the PML-N on reinstating the judges deposed by ex-President Pervez Musharraf during emergency rule last year was not “sacrosanct” and could be modified to suit the evolving political scenario.

Former premier Nawaz Sharif, the chief of PML-N who has set a Monday deadline for the sacked judges’ restoration, is reluctant to commit his party’s support for Zardari’s candidature for presidency unless the post is stripped of sweeping powers to dissolve Parliament and dismiss the Premier.

Following Zardari’s comments on the understanding over the judges issue, a PML-N spokesman said efforts by a committee to draft a resolution for reinstating the deposed judges had become “irrelevant”.

Understandings between political parties cannot be “termed as agreements” and agreements and declarations between the PPP and PML-N on restoring the judges are not holy scriptures that cannot be “altered or modified” to suit political developments, Zardari told BBC Urdu in an interview.

He also said the PPP had “no reservations” about Musharraf staying on in Pakistan following his resignation last week as the party does not believe in revenge.

In a separate interview with Newsweek, Zardari said Musharraf was “welcome to stay” in Pakistan and Parliament would decide whether he would get immunity from future prosecution.

Though there was no agreement between the PPP and Musharraf before his resignation, there was “a general understanding that we are not looking to (get) into any messy fights,” he said.

Zardari said the future President could grant Musharraf a pardon. He also said he thought the President should not have the power to dissolve Parliament.

The PML-N reacted angrily to Zardari’s comments, with party spokesman Siddique-ul-Farooq saying it appeared that the PPP wanted to get “maximum power”. If agreements between political parties are not honoured, they become “tools of deception”, Farooq said.

The PPP had also not yet responded to PML-N chief Sharif’s query on whether the deposed judges would be reinstated by Monday, Farooq said.

“There has been no feedback but they have made their response clear in Mr Zardari’s interview,” he said.

The PML-N would also not participate in the meeting of the committee drafting the resolution to be tabled in Parliament for restoring the judges as the process had now become “irrelevant”, Farooq said.

... contd.