Pakistani leaders to discuss future of cracking coalition government

Islamabad: The head of Pakistan's main ruling party planned to confer with aides on Wednesday on whether to accept Cabinet resignations from a key partner in the country's disintegrating six-week-old coalition government.

Nine ministers from the party of ex-Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif submitted their resignations Tuesday after talks failed between the two main coalition partners on reinstating judges fired by common rival President Pervez Musharraf.

But Prime Minister Yousuf Raza Gilani declined to accept the resignations until he met with his party's leader, Asif Ali Zardari, the widower and political successor of slain ex-Prime Minister Benazir Bhutto.

The delay has added to rising uncertainty over the Pakistani government's ability to function at a time of growing economic distress and continuing Islamic militancy in the largely impoverished nation.

The coalition came to power just six weeks ago after Zardari and Sharif's parties routed allies of Musharraf in February elections. Both agreed to reinstate the judges, but they have not resolved a complex legal and political dispute over exactly how.

Top Sharif aide Chaudhry Nisar Ali Khan said Tuesday he and other ministers told Gilani their resignations should be treated as final and that they would not return to work.

However, Sharif has said his party will not join the opposition and will continue backing Zardari's party on an issue-to-issue basis. He said he did not want to destabilize the government, which could boost Musharraf.

Zardari, who returned to Pakistan from Dubai overnight, told reporters at the Islamabad airport that he would decide on the resignations after consulting lawmakers from his party.

Zardari spokesman Farhatullah Babar told The Associated Press that the meetings on Wednesday would also include updates on the overall political situation. Zardari planned
to hold a news conference Wednesday evening.

The parties of Sharif and Zardari - the latter led by Bhutto before she was killed in December- have long been rivals in Pakistani politics. But both consider Musharraf a nemesis, although Zardari has indicated he is more willing to work with the president than Sharif.

Musharraf, who ousted Sharif from power in a 1999 military coup, deposed some 60 judges in November to avoid legal challenges to his presidency.

Sharif has demanded outright restoration of the judges. He insists a parliamentary resolution and a simple order from the government would be enough to bring them back.

But Zardari's party has linked their reinstatement to a broader package of judicial reform.