“After thorough deliberations and keeping all the recent developments into view the party (PML-N) has decided to split with the ruling coalition,” PML-N Chief announced after expressing his frustration on the way “PPP disillusioned” him and his party mainly on the judges issue.

PML-N Chief also showed the copy of the agreement made with the PPP outlining the steps regarding the impeachment of the president and restoration of the judges.

He said while in exile he and Shaheed Benazir Bhutto had many meetings outside the country and agreed on establishing democracy and putting an end to dictatorship in Pakistan.

He said a number of agreements were made on various matters between the two leaders which were later given a name of Charter of Democracy. Agreements were also made in Murree to maintain and continue this cooperation, he added.

“We assured Asif Zardari of support without even receiving any ministry but he forced us into getting ministries and our ministers took oath of their office from the (then) president Musharraf despite having reservations,” Nawaz Sharif maintained.

He said under the agreement reached between PPP and PML-N, the judges were to be restored after impeachment or resignation of former president Pervez Musharraf. The judges have not yet been reinstated despite president Musharraf’s resignation on August 18.

“Facing severe internal and external pressure, I wrote a detailed letter to Co-chairman PPP Asif Ali Zardari and allowed him time to ensure implementation on the agreements,” Nawaz said. “But Zardari in an interview said agreements are not Holy Qur’an or Hadith which cannot be changed”.

source: geo.tv

“I apologize to Nawaz Sharif if he feels we have made any mistake,” Zardari said in a televised statement.

Zardari said he was deeply grieved over Nawaz Sharif’s decision to break up with the coalition because both parties defeated a dictator.

PPP co-chairman said he was serious about the reinstatement of deposed judges and the government wanted deposed judges back, but PPP-led government had political support from many quarters in removing General (Retd.) Pervez Musharraf and the reinstatement of judges would deprive PPP of their support.

Asif Zardari said he was sorry if Nawaz Sharif’s feelings were hurt but PPP would still like to be a partner with PML-N to strengthen democratic process in the country.

He said all the judges would be restored and that there were no two opinion on that matter.

source: Geo.tv

Federal Minister for Information Technology and Kashmir Affairs and Northern Areas Qamar Zaman Kaira, Secretary Port, Communication and Provincial Secretary Transport declared the negotiations “Successful” here with leaders of Goods Transport Ittehad and announced the withdrawal of strike.

Government has reduced 40 percent toll taxes rates, 15 October deadline was set for committee that would decide and estimate the losses to the goods transporters on account of assassination of Benazir Bhutto, mounting security on Northern Bypass and National Highway were amid the chief demands that government approved during the successful negotiations.

The strike was being observed on the call of the Supreme Council of All Karachi Goods Transport Ittehad continued for the seven back-to-back days by the transporters, as their fleets of trucks, trawlers and containers remained parked at the truck stand, which rendered the countrywide transportation of goods from Karachi totally paralyzed.

Meanwhile, the wage earners attached to this profession urged upon the government for accepting the demands of the goods transporters, so that the standstill vehicles could ply on the roads and the daily wage earners attached to this sector could earn their living.

source: Geo.tv

However, he expressed confidence that the judges would be reinstated soon in accordance with the Islamabad declaration.

Addressing a press conference at the residence of SCBA member Sheikh Ahsanuddin here on Thursday, he said he had publicly expressed his difference with the party over the judges issue.

When asked about sincerity on the issue, he said everybody was sincere and had no doubts about the leadership’s sincerity despite some divergent views.

source: dawn.com

Goods including furniture, rugs, security equipments, statues, paintings and portraits which were sent to the office from the President House in Islamabad have also been retrieved.

“As the retrieved goods were in big quantity, they were taken back to the President House in three trucks,” the source said.

The grand pre-partition building of the camp office is one of the historical buildings in the country. It was first declared as president house by former president Ayub Khan and then it remained under the use of Yahya Khan. Former prime minister Zulfiqar Ali Bhutto after taking charge of the office of PM declared the building as prime minister house. The building also remained under the use of former Benazir Bhutto during her first tenure.

The camp office of Pervez Musharraf was part of the Army House which had recently been declared as President’s Lodge with a view to prolong his stay in it, while the existing residence of Chief of Army Staff (COAS) Ashfaq Pervaiz Kayani was declared as Army House.

It is expected that the previous status of the original Army House will be restored soon and former president will leave the spacious building in near future.

And because of this, it is strong possibility that Musharraf will prefer to leave the country instead of staying in the country due to security concerns.

The source said the price tags on the furniture and other goods removed from the camp office were evident of luxurious life the rulers of the country live. “The price tags found on the backside of the rugs have shown their costs ranging from Rs250,000 to Rs300,000,” the source said.

A senior security official told this reporter that if the president left the country, the only reason could be his security concerns. “If he leaves the President’s Lodge, there will be no other secure place for him in the country,” the official said.

The official ruled out the possibility that the former president would opt to live in his farm house being constructed at Chak Shahzad, Islamabad, as, he added, he would not have required security there.

source: dawn.com

In an interview with the Wall Street Journal, Mr Sharif said he was prepared to withdraw his party from the coalition, led by the Pakistan People’s Party, if about 60 judges, sacked during a six-week state of emergency declared in November, aren’t given their jobs back immediately.

“We will not try to bring the government down,” Mr Sharif told the newspaper.

“But of course, we then have no choice but to sit in the opposition.”

Mr Sharif also indicated that he would not stop former President leaving the country, although his political supporters were eager to press charges against Mr Musharraf.

Mr Sharif acknowledged that some of his supporters wanted to see Mr Musharraf in jail, but said he personally bore no grudges and would not mind him slipping out of the country.

“If he wants to go, I won’t stand in his way,” Mr Sharif told the newspaper. “He might want to take a break.”

Writing about the impending political showdown, the WSJ said if Mr Sharif carried out his threat of walking out of coalition it would force the Pakistan People’s Party to find other partners so it could maintain a governing coalition in parliament.

The paper said that since returning to Pakistan late last year, Mr Sharif had tapped deep reservoirs of support and presented himself as an uncompromising democrat.

In that role, he denounced Mr Musharraf and the military’s long history of involvement in politics.“Mr Musharraf threw the judges out of office. He ridiculed the institution,” he said.

source: Dawn.com

“President Bush had wished him (Mr Musharraf) well and thanked him for his efforts in the democratic transition of Pakistan, as well as the fight against Al Qaeda and extremist groups,” White House spokesman Gordon Johndroe told reporters.

In his conversation with the prime minister, Mr Bush also offered sympathies over recent terrorist attacks in Pakistan.

In both the calls, Mr Bush expressed solidarity with Pakistan which, he noted, had been wracked by political turmoil and suicide bombings that killed dozens of people.

However, as the information released by the White House showed, Mr Bush’s call to the prime minister aimed primarily at avoiding any misunderstanding that his telephone to Mr Musharraf could have created.

His call to Mr Musharraf, however, reflected his desire to stay in touch with a man he worked with for seven years and regarded as a good ally and a personal friend.

Diplomatic observers in Washington noted that Mr Bush’s call to Mr Musharraf also aimed to indicate that the United States was not going to abandon the former Pakistani president in his hour of need.

Both the White House and the State Department indicated earlier this week that should Mr Musharraf seek to live in the US at any point, he would be welcomed.

Political observers in Washington say that Mr Musharraf will be treated differently than President Ferdinand Marcos of the Philippines or the Shah of Iran because he has a better image in the United States. He is not seen here as corrupt as Mr Marcos or as ruthless as the Shah.

Baqir Sajjad Syed in Islamabad adds: Mr Bush told the prime minister the US would continue to cooperate with Pakistan in the war on terror and assistance to deal with the current economic crisis.

“The US will continue to remain involved in the battle against extremists and will assist Pakistan in overcoming its economic crisis,” an official of the Foreign Office quoted Mr Bush as saying.

He congratulated Mr Gilani on ‘transition to democracy’.

The US president had developed good rapport with the Pakistani premier during the latter’s visit to Washington last month and had called him his ‘brother’.

Both the leaders reaffirmed their resolve to jointly deal with the menace of terrorism and extremism which, they said, was a threat not only to the US and Pakistan, but to the entire world.

source: Dawn.com

Initially some PPP leaders indicated that the resolution might be introduced in the National Assembly on Friday morning even before a scheduled meeting of heads of the ruling coalition parties, but later federal Minister for Information Sherry Rehman told Dawn that it might be tabled “in a couple of days”.

When first media reports came about the PPP’s plan on Thursday, the PML-N leaders expressed their surprise over the move and suspected that it could be another tactic of the PPP to delay the process. Apparently, the PPP dropped the idea of bringing the resolution on Friday after PML-N leaders lodged a strong protest that the plan had been announced without taking their party into confidence.

Federal Minister for Labour and a key PPP leader told a private television that his party had finally decided to table the resolution in the National Assembly for a debate on the issue that had gripped the nation for 17 months. He, however, declined to divulge details of the plan and did not say how long the debate would go on and whether the judges would be restored after the debate. The PPP leader said the parliament was sovereign and it should decide the issue of judges.

When contacted, PML-N information secretary Ahsan Iqbal said that so far the party had not received any formal proposal from the PPP on the plan to move the resolution. “I will comment only after knowing as to what is the exact proposal,” he added.

He, however, explained that the PPP and the PML-N had agreed to reinstate the deposed judges and the parliamentary resolution was just a formality. He was of the view that the modalities for reinstating the judges had already been defined. He also expressed surprise as to how could the PPP table a resolution in the National Assembly in the morning when ANP president Asfandyar Wali Khan and JUI-F chief Maulana Fazlur Rehman would be meeting PML-N chief Nawaz Sharif at noon.

The PPP has convened a meeting of its Central Executive Committee (CEC) at Zardari House on Friday afternoon whereas a meeting of the coalition heads was expected to take place later in the evening.

PML-N chief Nawaz Sharif has already declared that if the judges were not restored by Friday then the party would have no choice but to sit in the opposition benches.

On Tuesday, PPP and PML-N leaders had failed to resolve their differences over the issue of the judges’ reinstatement and on the question of providing indemnity to the acts of former president Gen (retd) Pervez Musharraf.

According to the sources, Asfandyar Wali Khan had saved the day for the coalition by offering to play the role of a mediator after Asif Ali Zardari and Nawaz Sharif refused to show flexibility on their stand on the issue of the deposed judges. Later, the ANP president and JUI-F chief sought 72 hours to resolve the issue and promised to come up with a proposal on Friday.

The PML-N wants restoration of the deposed judges immediately through an executive order in accordance with the Murree Declaration signed by the two parties in March, whereas the PPP seeks more time.

Meanwhile, in a statement issued by the PML-N Secretariat, Nawaz Sharif said: “Reinstatement of the deposed judges is not merely an issue of the PML-N, rather it was the basis on which the ruling coalition was formed and the whole coalition affirmed many times its uncompromised will to restore all of the deposed judges to their pre-November 2, 2007 position.”

While joining the coalition, he said, the PML-N had set forth no conditions but only sought guarantees on the same issue. Therefore, he said, the only way to avoid disintegration of the coalition and to ensure its further integrity and unity was immediate fulfilment of the commitments made with the civil society, general public and the legal fraternity by restoring the ousted judges without any “minus one or minus two formula”.

Mr Sharif said the ruling coalition had become the epicentre of the hopes of the Pakistani nation after it had given a clear and vigorous mandate against dictatorship.

Mr Sharif said the people of Pakistan would not forgive the ruling coalition, if the judges were not restored in compliance with the Murree Declaration. “The coalition parties promised several times to restore the deposed judges, but every time it was delayed without any tangible reason and solid ground which was absolutely an unjust act on the part of the parties who made these commitments,” he added. The deadlines of April 30 and May 12 had passed without resolution of the issue but the main hurdle in the way of such execution has already been removed after resignation of President Musharraf.

source: Dawn.com

The Pakistani ruling coalition showed signs of fracture Tuesday, only a day after embattled President Pervez Musharraf resigned to avoid impeachment, and a bomb that killed at least 26 people in the country’s volatile northwest underlined the challenges faced by the new government.

The major sticking point for the fragile coalition is the same as it has been for months — whether 41 senior judges fired by Musharraf when he declared emergency rule Nov. 3 should be reinstated and how they should be reinstated. After meeting for more than three hours about the judges Tuesday, former Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif and his supporters abruptly left the house of coalition partner Asif Ali Zardari.

The coalition earlier had agreed to reinstate the judges within 24 hours of Musharraf’s resigning or being impeached. But as of Tuesday night in Pakistan, a decision was not likely until Friday or later. The coalition did not start debating who would be the country’s next president or whether Musharraf would face criminal charges, sources said.

In volatile northwest Pakistan, where government forces have been locked in an escalating confrontation with Islamic extremists, a suicide bomber entered a hospital emergency ward in Dera Ismail Khan and blew himself up, killing at least 26 people and injuring 35, authorities said.

The Taliban claimed responsibility, demanding that the government call off military offensives in the tribal area of Bajur and in the Swat Valley, about 100 miles north of the capital, Islamabad.

The Seattle Times

The suicide attack happened at a hospital in the troubled town of Dera Ismail Khan on Tuesday as Shiite Muslims gathered to protest over the death of a man in a suspected sectarian attack.

“The death toll has risen to 30 after seven more blast victims died in hospitals,” local police official Malik Mushtaq told AFP by telephone.

The dead included three policemen, he said, adding that 39 people were wounded in the blast.

Police said they had found the legs of the bomber at the blast site. They suspect the bomber could be a militant from the tribal area near the Afghan border.

“Our initial clues reveal that he (the bomber) was from South Waziristan tribal region,” a senior security official told AFP on condition of anonymity.

South Waziristan is viewed by Washington as a haven for Al-Qaeda and Taliban extremists.

The suicide attack was the first since US-backed president Pervez Musharraf resigned on Monday.

Islamabad has been under intense pressure from the United States to clamp down on militants based near the border.