Pakistan’s ruling coalition split yesterday after former premier Nawaz Sharif withdrew over differences on the restoration of judges sacked by ex-president Pervez Musharraf.
The political showdown came two weeks before lawmakers were to choose a new president following the resignation of Musharraf one week ago and as Pakistan tries to keep a lid on Islamic militants from the Taliban and al-Qaeda.
“We have decided to quit the coalition and sit on the opposition benches in parliament,” Sharif told a news conference following a meeting of his Pakistan Muslim League-N — which was the second largest party in the coalition.
“We have taken this decision after we failed to find any ray of hope and none of the commitments made to us were fulfilled” by Asif Ali Zardari, head of the Pakistan People’s Party (PPP), Sharif said.
“This situation forced us to withdraw our support,” he said.
Sharif had set a deadline yesterday for some 60 judges to be reinstated, but Zardari’s party — the largest in the coalition — had refused to give a time frame on when that would happen.
Musharraf sacked the judges last year under emergency rule to ensure there would be no legal challenges to his re-election as president while holding the dual role as head of the powerful military.
Critics say the PPP may not want to restore the judges out of fear that they could overturn an amnesty on corruption charges that allowed Zardari to return to Pakistan last year.
Zardari’s party had refused to give a time frame on when the judges would get their jobs back.
Sharif accused Zardari, who took over the PPP after his wife and former premier Benazir Bhutto was assassinated in December, of repeatedly breaking promises over reinstating the judges.
“The PPP also violated the latest agreement reached earlier this month that the judges will be restored 24 hours after the resignation of Musharraf,” he said.
The US-backed Musharraf resigned amid growing pressure from the coalition, which said it would attempt to impeach him.
Sharif vowed to continue the “struggle for restoration of the judges and genuine democracy in Pakistan” and said his party had chosen a retired Supreme Court chief justice to challenge Zardari in the Sept. 6 presidential poll.
“We have requested Saeed uz Zaman Siddiqui to accept our offer to become [a] presidential candidate,” Sharif said. “He is a good Pakistani who is a non-partisan person.”
TYPHOON: The storm’s path indicates a high possibility of Krathon making landfall in Pingtung County, depending on when the storm turns north, the CWA said Typhoon Krathon is strengthening and is more likely to make landfall in Taiwan, the Central Weather Administration (CWA) said in a forecast released yesterday afternoon. As of 2pm yesterday, the CWA’s updated sea warning for Krathon showed that the storm was about 430km southeast of Oluanpi (鵝鑾鼻), Taiwan’s southernmost point. It was moving in west-northwest at 9kph, with maximum sustained winds of 119kph and gusts of up to 155kph, CWA data showed. Krathon is expected to move further west before turning north tomorrow, CWA forecaster Wu Wan-hua (伍婉華) said. The CWA’s latest forecast and other countries’ projections of the storm’s path indicate a higher
SLOW-MOVING STORM: The typhoon has started moving north, but at a very slow pace, adding uncertainty to the extent of its impact on the nation Work and classes have been canceled across the nation today because of Typhoon Krathon, with residents in the south advised to brace for winds that could reach force 17 on the Beaufort scale as the Central Weather Administration (CWA) forecast that the storm would make landfall there. Force 17 wind with speeds of 56.1 to 61.2 meters per second, the highest number on the Beaufort scale, rarely occur and could cause serious damage. Krathon could be the second typhoon to land in southwestern Taiwan, following typhoon Elsie in 1996, CWA records showed. As of 8pm yesterday, the typhoon’s center was 180km
TYPHOON DAY: Taitung, Pingtung, Tainan, Chiayi, Hualien and Kaohsiung canceled work and classes today. The storm is to start moving north this afternoon The outer rim of Typhoon Krathon made landfall in Taitung County and the Hengchun Peninsula (恆春半島) at about noon yesterday, the Central Weather Administration (CWA) said, adding that the eye of the storm was expected to hit land tomorrow. The CWA at 2:30pm yesterday issued a land alert for Krathon after issuing a sea alert on Sunday. It also expanded the scope of the sea alert to include waters north of Taiwan Strait, in addition to its south, from the Bashi Channel to the Pratas Islands (Dongsha Islands, 東沙群島). As of 6pm yesterday, the typhoon’s center was 160km south of
STILL DANGEROUS: The typhoon was expected to weaken, but it would still maintain its structure, with high winds and heavy rain, the weather agency said One person had died amid heavy winds and rain brought by Typhoon Krathon, while 70 were injured and two people were unaccounted for, the Central Emergency Operation Center said yesterday, while work and classes have been canceled nationwide today for the second day. The Hualien County Fire Department said that a man in his 70s had fallen to his death at about 11am on Tuesday while trimming a tree at his home in Shoufeng Township (壽豐). Meanwhile, the Yunlin County Fire Department received a report of a person falling into the sea at about 1pm on Tuesday, but had to suspend search-and-rescue
RSS