JURIST - Paper Chase: Pakistan coalition government to split over reinstating ousted judges

[JURIST] The Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) [party website], one of the two main parties in Pakistan's coalition government, is leaving the coalition [press release] after prolonged talks in London failed to produce an agreement on the reinstatement of judges ousted by Pakistani President Pervez Musharraf last year, ex-Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif and PML-N party leader said Monday. The PML-N had pushed for the judges to be reinstated without condition, but the majority Pakistan People's Party (PPP) has insisted on restrictions on the judges' power. All PMN-L ministers will resign their posts on Tuesday, but Sharif said that the party will continue to support the PPP on an issue-by-issue basis and will not seek to actively undermine the government.

A panel convened last week pursuant to an initial deal struck by the leaders in Dubai completed a draft parliamentary resolution [JURIST report] to restore the judges, but disagreements on implementation among panel members meant that the resolution had to go the top leadership of the PPP and the PML-N for approval before being submitted to the Pakistani parliament. The parties were unable to reach agreement on the resolution in further negotiations in London, and talks ultimately collapsed despite last-minute intervention by a US envoy [JURIST reports]. Sharif had originally promised that the judges would be restored by May 12 [JURIST report], but that deadline passed Monday. BBC News has more. From Pakistan, the News has local coverage.

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