Ex-premier Sharif quits Pakistan's ruling coalition
Nawaz Sharif set a deadline of today for the country's judges to be reinstated.
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Monday, 25, Aug 2008 08:49
Pakistan's political turmoil has continued after ex-prime minister Nawaz Sharif quit the ruling coalition.
Two weeks before the country elects a new president, Mr Sharif pulled out because the Pakistan People's party (PPP) failed to reinstate the country's judges.
Sixty judges were sacked by former president Pervez Musharraf, who stepped down last week, after he declared a state of emergency last November.
Mr Sharif claims PPP leader Asif Ali Zardari failed to pledge a written agreement to restore the judges within 24 hours of Mr Musharraf quitting.
The PPP is reluctant to restore the judges as it fears the deposed chief justice, Iftikhar Chaudhry, might challenge an amnesty on corruption charges granted to Mr Zardari last year.
Mr Sharif's Pakistan Muslim League (N) has also been in dispute with the PPP over who should be the next president.
"We do this with a heavy heart," Mr Sharif told a news conference in Islamabad.
"We have been forced to quit the coalition."
Lawmakers are expected to choose Mr Zardari as Mr Musharraf's successor on September 6th.
Despite quitting the coalition, the PPP would still have enough allies in parliament to hold the government together. But analysts say governing in the long term would be difficult with the two largest parties now opposing each other.
The political infighting is a distraction from militant violence in the north-west, with 37 insurgents killed in retaliation for a string of suicide bombings over the weekend.