PM hopes Nawaz will continue govt support

The coalition government will survive its five-year term and key partner Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) chief Nawaz Sharif will not withdraw his support despite differences within the ruling coalition, Prime Minister Yousuf Raza Gilani said on Sunday. The prime minister told Indian television programme, ‘India Tonight’, that he believed the PML-N would not withdraw its ministers from the federal cabinet even if the May 12 deadline for the restoration of sacked judges were not met, NNI reported.

To PML-N leader Javed Hashmi’s threat that the party would withdraw from the government if the sacked judges were not restored, he said, “The PML-N has not taken a decision in this regard. And even if they have to take a decision, then it will be at a level of Nawaz Sharif and Pakistan People’s Party (PPP) Co-chairman Asif Ali Zardari.” He said the PPP had not established back channel contacts with President Pervez Musharraf. Meanwhile, Gilani told media in Lahore that the PPP had rendered more sacrifices for the cause of independence of the judiciary and the supremacy of the Constitution than any other political party in the country.