Judges at Heart of Pakistani Coalition Split
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ISLAMABAD, Pakistan — Pakistan’s governing coalition splintered after the leader of the Pakistan Peoples Party, Asif Ali Zardari, reneged on pledges to reinstate 60 judges fired by President Musharraf and to select a presidential candidate from outside the main parties, Nawaz Sharif said yesterday, nominating a former chief justice, Saeed-uz-Zaman Siddiqui, to run for head of state.
“These repeated defaults and violations have forced us to withdraw our support from the ruling coalition and sit on the opposition benches,” said Mr. Sharif, who was ousted as prime minister by Mr. Musharraf in a 1999 military coup. “However, we will play a constructive role.”
Mr. Musharraf, 65, resigned August 18 to avoid facing impeachment. Mr. Sharif united with Mr. Zardari over the need to remove Mr. Musharraf, then bickered over replacing judges with the ones the former president fired.
Mr. Sharif’s Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz Party has “laid the foundation for politics of principle and we should all support this,” said Mr. Siddiqui, who quit as chief justice when Mr. Musharraf seized power. “Sharif stood by his word in difficult times and we will struggle for the reinstatement of judges.”
Mr. Zardari, widower of Benazir Bhutto, wants to keep the Musharraf judges, who backed legislation withdrawing corruption charges against him and his wife, while also reinstating the fired ones.
Restoring a former chief justice, Iftikhar Muhammad Chaudhry, has been the biggest obstacle to an agreement because he questioned the legality of a 2007 decree that protected Mr. Zardari.
The two parties pledged to reinstate the judges in a March 9 accord that formed the basis for the coalition. In an August 7 agreement, the ruling alliance agreed the justices would be restored a day after the impeachment or resignation of Mr. Musharraf, Mr. Sharif said.
Lawyers will stage sit-ins in major Pakistani cities on Thursday and demand the government reinstates the judges, the president of the Supreme Court Bar Association, Aitzaz Ahsan, said in a news conference. Lawyers will protest in front of the parliament house in Islamabad on September 4, he said.
