Monday
Mar232009
Pakistan: A Political Deal for a New Coalition?
Monday, March 23, 2009 at 9:35
Related Post: Chief Justice Chaudhry Reinstated; What Next for Zardari?
Update (23 March): President Zardari has responded to the political manoeuvres with his own call for reconciliation. In an address on Pakistan Day, he asked "everyone to work in the spirit of tolerance, mutual accommodation and respect for dissent and invite everyone to participate in the national effort for ... reconciliation and healing the wounds".
I'm not sure if this development will be noticed in the British and American press, but it could be the sign of a political arrangement for a new coalition Government and the political demise of President Asif Ali Zardari.
The Pakistani newspaper Dawn reports that Prime Minister Yousaf Raza Gilani will meet opposition leader Nawaz Sharif on Sunday with "a message of reconciliation and goodwill". Gilani said that the Pakistan People's Party wanted an arrangement "to strengthen democracy".
Sharif's Pakistan Muslim League-N (PML-N) responded in kind, saying it has no objection to a coalition government with the PPP in Punjab. Presumably this would include the restoration of Shahbaz Sharif as Chief Minister of the province.
And the striking absence in the Dawn story? Not a word from President Zardari.
Update (23 March): President Zardari has responded to the political manoeuvres with his own call for reconciliation. In an address on Pakistan Day, he asked "everyone to work in the spirit of tolerance, mutual accommodation and respect for dissent and invite everyone to participate in the national effort for ... reconciliation and healing the wounds".I'm not sure if this development will be noticed in the British and American press, but it could be the sign of a political arrangement for a new coalition Government and the political demise of President Asif Ali Zardari.
The Pakistani newspaper Dawn reports that Prime Minister Yousaf Raza Gilani will meet opposition leader Nawaz Sharif on Sunday with "a message of reconciliation and goodwill". Gilani said that the Pakistan People's Party wanted an arrangement "to strengthen democracy".
Sharif's Pakistan Muslim League-N (PML-N) responded in kind, saying it has no objection to a coalition government with the PPP in Punjab. Presumably this would include the restoration of Shahbaz Sharif as Chief Minister of the province.
And the striking absence in the Dawn story? Not a word from President Zardari.
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