Pakistan coalition partner quits cabinet over judges

13/05/2008 07:37:48

Former Pakistani prime minister Nawaz Sharif says his party members will resign their cabinet posts, after talks in London with coalition partner Asif Zardari failed to break a deadlock over reinstating 60 senior judges.

Speaking in Islamabad after a meeting of his Pakistan Muslim League Nawaz party, Mr Sharif said his ministers would submit their resignations to Prime Minister Syed Yousuf Raza Gilani on Tuesday.

Mr Sharif had threatened to pull out of the coalition if an agreement on the timing and process of reinstating the country's senior judges had not been finalised by today.

The judges were sacked when President Pervez Musharraf declared emergency rule last November.

Although Mr Sharif and Mr Zardari had agreed in principle to reinstate the judiciary, Mr Sharif wanted their reinstatement to take place through a parliamentary resolution, while Mr Zardari insisted it should be through a package of constitutional reforms.

Today's deadline for reaching a deal was chosen by Mr Sharif as it marks the first anniversary of clashes between supporters of the sacked chief judge, Iftikhar Muhammad Chaudhry and army troops in Karachi, in which more than 40 people died.

Commonwealth to readmit Pakistan
Mr Sharif was speaking shortly after the Commonwealth lifted its suspension of Pakistan from the grouping.

After a meeting of key ministers in London, the Commonwealth Secretary General, Kamalesh Sharma, said Pakistan's membership had been restored.

Pakistan was suspended from 53-nation Commonwealth on November 22 last year, after the bloc said conditions under President Pervez Musharraf were in violation of its fundamental values.

Produced by Radio Australia and Australia Network