World | Pakistan
Gilani and Sharif strike deal to bury hatchet
Prime Minister Yousuf Raza Gilani and Pakistan Muslim League-N chief and former premier Nawaz Sharif agreed on reconciliation and cooperation between PML-N and the Pakistan Peoples Party during a crucial meeting on Sunday, their first after the historic restoration of the deposed judges.
- By Shahid Hussain, Correspondent
- Published: 23:15 March 22, 2009
- Image Credit: AP
- Pakistani Prime Minister Yousuf Raza Gilani, left, seen with opposition leader Nawaz Sharif, during a press conference after their meeting in Raiwind near Lahore, Pakistan.
Islamabad: Prime Minister Yousuf Raza Gilani and Pakistan Muslim League-N chief and former premier Nawaz Sharif agreed on reconciliation and cooperation between PML-N and the Pakistan Peoples Party during a crucial meeting on Sunday, their first after the historic restoration of the deposed judges.
Addressing a joint news conference at their meeting at the Raiwind estate of the PML-N leader, both expressed optimism about harmonious relations in future between the two major political parties and emphasised the need for working together to implement the Charter of Democracy signed in 2006 by Sharif and the late PPP chairperson Benazir Bhutto.
Gilani said he had brought a message of reconciliation and cooperation from the party and its co-chairman, President Asif Ali Zardari. He underlined that collective efforts by the democratic forces was the need of the hour and the way to overcome the current challenges, including terrorism.
The PML-N chief said he had no personal grudge against Zardari and the main cause of friction had been removed with the restoration of the judiciary as it was before the unconstitutional steps taken by military ruler Pervez Musharraf on November 3, 2007 by imposing emergency rule and sacking chief justice Iftikhar Mohammad Chaudhry and other judges.
He said the implementation of the Charter of Democracy would strengthen the institutions and remove sources of political instability by repealing the 17th Amendment to the constitution that Musharraf manipulated through the parliament to concentrate all powers in his powers.
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