A new beginning

THE ruling coalition has finally come up with an agreement to impeach the President and restore all deposed judges to the positions they held before November 3, dispelling the suspicions and uncertainties that the failure of previous meetings between the PPP and PML(N) leaders to come to an understanding on these issues had created in the minds of the public. The latest round of talks, held at Islamabad and participated in by Mr Asif Zardari, Mian Nawaz Sharif and representatives of other coalition partners, was stretched to the third day and concluded with the announcement of a joint statement read out by Mr Zardari before the media on Thursday afternoon. He declared that all judges would be reinstated soon after the impeachment. Though the first priority should have gone to the resolution of the judges issue, now that the coalition has decided that the President’s removal from office would precede the judges’ restoration, it is to be hoped it would wholeheartedly work to realise these objectives and succeed. Mr Zardari’s call to the PML(N) to rejoin the Cabinet was well received by Mian Nawaz. He would consult his partymen and respond today.