Sharif says Zardari risks losing support over Pak judges
Saturday, 21 June 2008
Pakistan's former Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif said his coalition partner Asif Ali Zardari risks losing popular support after failing to honour an agreement to reinstate judges fired by President Pervez Musharraf, reports Bloomberg.
"I am disappointed and dismayed that he did not keep a promise," Sharif, who leads the Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz, said in an interview at his residence in Lahore today. "The blame will come on the party which will back out, not the one which is not backing out."
The impasse has prevented the coalition from reaching an agreement that would remove Musharraf, nine years after he ousted Sharif in a military coup. Sharif is meeting Zardari at his residence today to help resolve a dispute that threatens to erode popular support for the government.
"The reason that brought them together is gradually being replaced by points of potential conflict," said Ishtiaq Ahmed, associate professor of international relations at Quaid-i-Azam University in Islamabad. "Their inability to agree is only strengthening Musharraf."
Sharif, 58, pulled his ministers out of the Cabinet May 13.
"I am disappointed and dismayed that he did not keep a promise," Sharif, who leads the Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz, said in an interview at his residence in Lahore today. "The blame will come on the party which will back out, not the one which is not backing out."
The impasse has prevented the coalition from reaching an agreement that would remove Musharraf, nine years after he ousted Sharif in a military coup. Sharif is meeting Zardari at his residence today to help resolve a dispute that threatens to erode popular support for the government.
"The reason that brought them together is gradually being replaced by points of potential conflict," said Ishtiaq Ahmed, associate professor of international relations at Quaid-i-Azam University in Islamabad. "Their inability to agree is only strengthening Musharraf."
Sharif, 58, pulled his ministers out of the Cabinet May 13.