|
No Breakthrough In London Talks On Pakistan Crisis
Fresh question marks were raised Friday on the survival of Pakistan’s ruling coalition after the leaders of the two largest ruling parties failed to resolve their differences over the restoration of sacked judges. The website of Urdu-language newspaper Roznama Jang reported that the first round of talks between Asif Zardari and Nawaz Sharif ended in London without a breakthrough. General (Ret.) President Pervez Musharraf ordered Emergency rule in Pakistan on November 3 last year, when about 60 judges of the Supreme Court and High Courts stood ‘sacked’ after they refused to take a fresh oath under the new emergency order. The deadlock centers on whether to re-instate conscientious Chief Justice Iftikhar Muhammad Chaudhry to his post by removing the incumbent Chief Justice Abdul Hameed Dogar and whether the judges sworn in under the emergency order be removed from their posts. According to the report, Asif Zardari of Pakistan People’s Party and Nawaz Sharif of Pakistan Muslim League, the two largest parties in the ruling coalition, held the first round of talks in London on Friday. After the talks, Nawaz Sharif said they will meet again. The two parties have raised people’s expectations by giving a deadline of May 12 for the restoration of the sacked judges, possibly through a parliamentary resolution. Nawaz Sharif has so far insisted that the judges who took oath under the emergency order also be removed. Source: Roznama Jang (www.jang.com.pk), Pakistan, May 9, 2008
Posted at: 2008-05-09
| 
