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Now, PML (N) turns its wrath on PPP

ISLAMABAD: After first pointing a finger at President Pervez Musharraf, the Pakistan Muslim League (N) is now training its guns on its coalition partner, the Pakistan People’s Party, for the Lahore High Court disqualification of its leader Nawaz Sharif from the June 26 by-election.

Prime Minister Yousuf Raza Gilani tried to make amends by saying the government would file a review petition in the Supreme Court against the Lahore High Court’s decision.

Mr. Gilani said the government would also seek a postponement of the by-election in the constituency for which Mr. Sharif was a contestant before his disqualification.

Law Minister Farroq Naek said the petition was ready and would be filed at the earliest. But it did nothing to cement the widening cracks in the coalition.

The PML (N), which declared it would not appeal the decision as it does not accept the judges appointed by the retired General Musharraf during the 2007 Emergency as legal, distanced itself from the government’s decision to go to the Supreme Court.

Chaudhary Nisar Ali Khan, a PML (N) leader, said it was the government’s decision in which his party had no part. He said the party was willing to sacrifice its government in Punjab, but “we will not bow before the PCO judges,” a reference to the judges who took their oath office on the provisional constitutional order of the Emergency.

Earlier, the PML (N) walked out of the National Assembly in protest against Mr. Sharif’s disqualification. Far from being a setback, Mr. Sharif’s disqualification has given the PML (N) further opportunity to polish its recently acquired credentials as a torchbearer for democracy and an independent judiciary. The PPP, on the other hand, is increasingly perceived as a party of the “establishment,” Pakistan’s entrenched civil-military bureaucracy.

In an angry speech before the walkout, Mr. Khan, who leads his party in the House, lambasted the PPP. He said the PML (N) had been telling the PPP from the start that if the judges sacked in the Emergency were not restored at the earliest, the “PCO judges” would derail democracy. By disqualifying Mr. Sharif, he said, they had disqualified the entire nation.

People had voted for change in the February 18 election, said Mr Khan adding: “But nothing has changed.”

“The same faces adorn the corridors of power and they are engaged in the same farce, in the same conspiracies, all in the name of governance. Pakistan, today, is anything but a democracy and it is for our coalition partners to explain why they have allowed this to happen,” he said.

Speaking after the PML (N) legislators walked out of the Assembly, Mr. Khan described the “PCO judges” as a “a legacy of the dictatorship,” adding: “Unfortunately, the biggest support for the PCO judges is coming from this government.”

He said before the February 18 election, General Musharraf could be held responsible for all the actions of the PCO judges.

“But after the elections, it is the elected government that is to blame,” said Mr. Khan.

The party also dissociated itself from its support to a decision to expand the Supreme Court through the unusual means of the Finance Bill. The Bill allowed for the retention of the “PCO judges” along with the reinstated judges.

The PML (N) assisted in passing it through the National Assembly on Sunday, but Mr. Khan said on Tuesday his party was never consulted on the clause in it providing for the increase in the number of judges.

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