Sharif turns down Zardari's fresh call to rejoin Pak coalition By Rezaul H Laskar

Islamabad, Aug 28 (PTI) - Making fresh efforts to win back
the estranged ally, Pakistan Peoples Party (P.P.P.) leader
Asif Ali Zardari Thursday requested Pakistan Muslim
League-Nawaz (P.M.L.-N) chief Nawaz Sharif to rejoin
Pakistan's ruling coalition but the former premier said it is
not possible in the "near future."

Zardari made the request when he telephoned Sharif,
senior P.M.L.-N leader Ahsan Iqbal told reporters. The P.P.P.
chief also asked Sharif, who pulled out of the coalition on
Monday, to withdraw the P.M.L.-N's candidate from the
presidential poll to be held on September six.

During the phone conversation, Zardari referred to his
apology extended to Sharif shortly after he broke away from
the coalition on Monday as well as his comments about being
unable to restore the deposed judges due to "pressures from
certain quarters".

Sharif thanked Zardari for his apology but said the
P.M.L.-N would not like to rejoin the coalition "in the near
future".

The P.M.L.-N chief split from the ruling coalition after
accusing Zardari of reneging on several agreements to
reinstate dozens of judges deposed by former President Pervez
Musharraf during last year's emergency rule. The P.M.L.-N has
fielded former Chief Justice Saeed-uz-Zaman Siddiqui against
Zardari in the presidential polls.

Zardari had apologised to Sharif on Monday itself for
hurting his feelings and hinted that certain powers within and
outside Pakistan, which had played a role in the ouster of
Musharraf, were opposed to the restoration of the deposed
judges.

In another indication that the P.M.L.-N is not keen on
rejoining the coalition, senior party leader Chaudhry Nisar
Ali Khan met Prime Minister Yousuf Raza Gilani and asked him
to accept the resignations of nine P.M.L.-N ministers who
had quit the Cabinet in May.

The P.M.L.-N ministers had resigned after the government
failed to meet two deadlines for reinstating the sacked
judges. Gilani has so far not accepted their resignations.

Khan also asked Gilani to issue directives to end the
military operations against the Taliban in Bajaur Agency,
where nearly 300,000 people have been displaced due to
fighting between security forces and militants.

Khan also requested the Prime Minister to ensure that
separate seats were allocated to P.M.L.-N members in the
National Assembly following their decision to sit in the
opposition.

Following the P.M.L.-N's split from the coalition, the
P.P.P. has begun selectively reinstating the deposed judges.
Eight deposed judges of the Sindh High Court were restored to
their positions yesterday after they took a fresh oath.

The P.M.L.-N had been insisting that all the deposed
judges should be reinstated at the same time through a
parliamentary resolution and an executive order issued by the
Prime Minister. The P.M.L.-N has also said that administering
a fresh oath to the judges is tantamount to validating their
sacking by Musharraf.

Musharraf resigned on August 18 to avoid being impeached
by the coalition, thus necessitating the holding of
presidential polls. The three main candidates in the fray for
the post are Zardari, former Chief Justice Siddiqui and
opposition Pakistan Muslim League (Quaid-e-Azam) P.M.L.-Q
leader Mushahid Hussain Sayed. PTI RHL