PML-N to leave cabinet but not coalition

The Pakistan People’s Party (PPP) and the Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) on Sunday failed to reach a deal on restoring the judges sacked on November 3, and PML-N leader Ahsan Iqbal said his party had no option but to quit the federal cabinet. But PML-N President Shahbaz Sharif was still optimistic that the coalition government would stay intact.

Education Minister Ahsan Iqbal told that his party might decide to rejoin the cabinet after the judges were restored, but “if there is no hope that the sacked judges will be restored ... our party will quit the cabinet once and for all.”

Government won’t destabilise: Emerging from a fresh round of talks also involving PML-N’s Khawaja Asif and PPP’s Rahman Malik and Hussein Haqqani, Shahbaz was optimistic that the coalition government would remain intact and said both sides were making sincere efforts to resolve the issue in an amicable way.

“We will support the government issue by issue — we will not let the government destabilise,” Shahbaz said while addressing a press conference with Haqqani. “I pray we could iron out these differences and give good news to the nation tomorrow.” Disagreement: Haqqani said the two sides “are still trying to take this matter to a satisfactory conclusion.”

He said the two parties had different views on the procedure for restoring the sacked judges and experts, lawyers and diplomats were all working together to achieve a satisfactory solution. The leaders of the two parties would announce the results of the negotiations, he added. “We need to continue talking rather than putting any deadlines,” he said.

Iqbal, who is in Islamabad, also said that that a collapse of the ruling coalition would be a great blow to democracy in Pakistan, therefore the PML-N was striving for every possible solution to restore the sacked judges. He said the people of Pakistan had sacrificed a lot for the freedom of judiciary, adding that the restoration of the sacked judges was their collective demand and had given the mandate to political forces to implement the Charter of Democracy and the Murree Declaration.

He said there was a need for reconciliation, but it should not safeguard the interests of a single individual. He said the political forces should strive for the sacked judges’ restoration, adding that the judges who took oath under the Provisional Constitution Order (PCO) had negated the Charter of Democracy. He alleged that conspiracies were being hatched to dismantle the coalition, adding that the PML-N would never become part of such conspiracies.

Information Minister Sherry Rehman said the PPP would try to work with the PML-N even if the formal relationship breaks down. “Our commitment is really to the people of Pakistan, not just to each other,” she said. “If for some reason they decide to leave the coalition, we will try to continue to have a stable and good relationship.”