Coalition in jeopardy

MR Zardari’s decision to run for the Presidency without restoring the judiciary to its pre- November 2 status and doing away with the 17th Amendment has put the future of the ruling coalition in jeopardy. The formal announcement came Saturday night, hours after Mian Nawaz linked his party’s support for Mr Zardari’s candidature to the reinstatement of deposed judges and the removal of the presidential power to dismiss Parliament. The conditions are tough enough to be fulfilled when seen in the backdrop of the PPP leadership’s tradition of going back on its word, over and over again. Beginning from the Bhurban Declaration, going down all the way to the August 7 agreement at the coalition summit in Islamabad, Mr Zardari kept reaffirming his commitment about restoring the judges but in actual fact he was biding time to consolidate his party’s position.