'N' to vote against PM if trust vote sought

NEW DELHI (Agencies) - Declaring that he felt “terribly let down” by ruling Pakistan People’s Party (PPP) leader Asif Ali Zardari, former prime minister Nawaz Sharif who pulled out of the ruling coalition this week says he will not compromise on getting the sacked judges reinstated.

“There is no room for flexibility on the issue of the judiciary. There was no room for flexibility on the impeachment of the president. And there is no room for flexibility on something that we have signed together, something on which we have given a solemn pledge to each other,” Nawaz said in an interview with the English weekly Tehelka.

“When you have an agenda to strengthen democracy and make parliament sovereign, then how can you be flexible.” Nawaz pulled his Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) out of the coalition in protest against Zardari’s failure to reinstate the 60 judges, including Chief Justice of Pakistan Iftikhar Chaudhry, who were sacked by then president Pervez Musharraf last year.

Musharraf resigned from the president’s post on Aug 18 to avoid the humiliation of being impeached in the National Assembly. A week later, Nawaz also backed out of the ruling coalition.

According to Nawaz, there had been an agreement with Zardari about reinstating all the judges within 24 hours of Musharraf’s resignation. But, even after a week, no decision was taken by the PPP-led coalition government to reinstate the sacked judges.