Ministers from the party of former Pakistani prime minister Nawaz Sharif submitted their resignations from Pakistan's Cabinet yesterday, shaking the fragile coalition government that took power just six weeks ago.
Sharif announced on Monday that he was pulling his ministers from the government over its failure to meet a promise to reinstate judges ousted by archrival President Pervez Musharraf.
But Pakistani Prime Minister Yousuf Raza Gilani did not immediately accept the nine resignations yesterday. Gilani said he first wanted to consult his party's leader, Asif Ali Zardari, according to one of the nine, Education Minister Ahsan Iqbal.
A withdrawal of Sharif's party raises the prospect of the fledgling government collapsing, casting Pakistan into political turmoil just as it faces mounting economic woes and tries to maintain a fragile truce with Islamic militants along the Afghan border.
Sharif said his party would remain part of the ruling coalition, which is led by the party of Zardari, the widower of assassinated former prime minister Benazir Bhutto. Zardari's party expressed "respect" for the decision and said the parties remained close.
But a spokesman for Sharif sharpened the tone yesterday, accusing members of Zardari's Pakistan People's Party (PPP) of "serving the interests" of Musharraf by blocking the judges' restoration.
"Such loyalists of Musharraf are to be blamed for our decision to quit the Cabinet," Sadiqul Farooq said.
Farooq said that Zardari aides had secret contacts with Musharraf.
Zardari party spokesman Farhatullah Babar denied there had been any back-channel contact with Musharraf and insisted his party remained committed to restoring the judges.
He said Zardari was to return to Pakistan from overseas late yesterday, meet party leaders and hold talks with Sharif at a later date.
Musharraf imposed emergency rule and purged the Supreme Court in November last year to forestall a ruling on his eligibility for office.
The coalition which came to power after routing Musharraf's supporters in February parliamentary elections vowed to reverse his crackdown. But the two leading parties have failed to agree just how to reinstate the judges despite weeks of wrangling.
Sharif insists a parliamentary resolution and a simple order from the government would suffice to bring back the justices.
But Zardari's party argues that the law must be changed first to accommodate those judges installed by Musharraf after the purge ??an attempt to make sure they do not resist the change. It is also seeking a package of judicial reforms to prevent the judges from getting involved in politics.
A permanent split in the coalition would boost Musharraf, a former army strongman who has taken a back seat since the new government took power in late March.
Opposition parties aligned with the president have signaled their readiness to join a new coalition with the PPP if its alliance with Sharif breaks down completely.
But Sharif said his party would not join the opposition "for the time being."
"We will not take any step which will benefit Musharraf's dictatorship," he said.
NETWORK-MAPPING PROJECT: The database contains 170 detailed files of Taiwanese politicians and about 23 million records of household registration data in Taiwan China has developed a network-mapping project targeting political figures and parties in Taiwan to monitor public opinion during elections and to craft tailored influence campaigns aimed at dividing Taiwanese society, according to documents leaked by Chinese technology firm GoLaxy (中科天璣). The documents, collected by Taipei-based Doublethink Lab, showed a database was specifically created to gather detailed information on Taiwanese political figures, including their political affiliations, job histories, birthplaces, residences, education, religion and a brief biography about them. Several notable Taiwanese politicians are in the database, including President William Lai (賴清德), former president Tsai Ing-wen (蔡英文), Minister of Foreign Affairs Lin Chia-lung (林佳龍),
RECOGNITION: Former Fijian prime minister Mahendra Chaudhry said that Taiwan’s New Southbound Policy serves as a stabilizing force in the Indo-Pacific region Taiwan can lead the unification of the Chinese people, Nobel Peace Prize laureate and former Polish president Lech Walesa said in Taipei yesterday, adding that as the world order is changing, peaceful discussion would find good solutions, and that the use of force and coercion would always fail. Walesa made the remarks during his keynote address at a luncheon of the Yushan Forum in Taipei, titled “Indo-Pacific Partnership Prospects: Taiwan’s Values, Technology and Resilience,” organized by the Taiwan-Asia Exchange Foundation with the Ministry of Foreign Affairs. Walesa said that he had been at the forefront of a big peaceful revolution and “if
North Korea tested nuclear-capable rocket launchers, state media reported yesterday, a day after Seoul detected the launch of about 10 ballistic missiles. The test comes after South Korean and US forces launched their springtime military drills, due to run until Thursday. North Korean leader Kim Jong-un on Saturday oversaw the testing of the multiple rocket launcher system (MRLS), the Korean Central News Agency (KCNA) said. The test involved 12 600mm-caliber ultra-precision multiple rocket launchers and two artillery companies, it said. Kim said the drill gave Pyongyang’s enemies, within the 420km striking range, a sense of “uneasiness” and “a deep understanding
North Korea yesterday fired about 10 ballistic missiles to the sea toward Japan, the South Korean Joint Chiefs of Staff (JCS) said, days after Pyongyang warned of “terrible consequences” over ongoing South Korea-US military drills. Pyongyang recently dashed hopes of a diplomatic thaw with Seoul, Washington’s security ally, describing its latest peace efforts as a “clumsy, deceptive farce.” Seoul’s military detected “around 10 ballistic missiles launched from the Sunan area in North Korea toward the East Sea [Sea of Japan] at around 1:20pm,” JCS said in a statement, referring to South Korea’s name for the body of water. The missiles
RSS