Pakistan seeks way out of crisis, detentions multiply

Turmoil in Pakistan ! How fitting , President Zardari is quickly finding out what appeasement is all about... losing control !

ISLAMABAD, March 13 (Reuters) - Pakistan's year-old civilian government sought a compromise to appease opposition leaders and a lawyers movement on Friday as police detained hundreds of activists in a bid to stifle a nationwide protest.

A protest by lawyers and opposition parties for an independent judiciary threatens to bring political turmoil and comes as President Asif Ali Zardari's government is struggling to check rising Islamist militancy and to revive a sinking economy.

Black-suited lawyers and flag-waving opposition activists launched a so-called long march from the cities of Karachi and Quetta on Thursday, and aim to reach Islamabad on Monday.

The government has tried to foil the protest with detentions, bans on rallies, and road blocks, while at the same time looking for a way to avert a showdown that could become violent.

Under a compromise Prime Minister Yousaf Raza Gilani is pushing, Zardari has agreed to yield ground to opposition demands, according to a presidential aide, speaking on condition of anonymity.

The protesters are demanding the reinstatement of former Supreme Court chief justice Iftikhar Chaudhry, who was dismissed by former president and army chief Pervez Musharraf in 2007.

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Zardari has refused to reinstate the judge, seeing him as a threat to his own position, but the presidential aide said under the proposed compromise a constitutional court and an appellate court would be set up and Chaudhry would head one.

Nawaz Sharif, a former prime minister, has backed the lawyers, putting him into open confrontation with Zardari.

"We still believe there is a way out, we still believe that the elected prime minister of Pakistan should play his role," Chaudhry Nisar Ali Khan, a senior leader in Sharif's party, told reporters in Islamabad.

"We even believe that options and space are available for Mr. Zardari to re-think, to come back from the brink," he said.

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Sharif Backs out of Ruling Coalition

Saw this coming as soon as Zardari and Sharif formed the coalition. Especially since Musharraf resigned from the Presidency. Zardari and Sharif's opposition to Musharraf was the only thing that those two had in common. The split comes amid the negotiations to reinstate the judges that Musharraf dismissed last year.

Sharif wants all of the dismissed judges to be reinstated whereas Zardari wants different judges to be picked. Mainly because Zardari fears that his amnesty for corruption might be invalidated if all the same judges are reinstated.

Sharif said that for now his party will 'play a constructive role' in the opposition. He will probably use the threat to topple the government as leverage to gain more compromises. BBC

Former Pakistani Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif says his PML-N party is pulling out of the country's multi-party governing coalition.

He has been in dispute with the country's biggest party, the PPP, over who should be the next president.

The two sides also disagree on the reinstatement of judges sacked by former President Pervez Musharraf.

The move throws Pakistan into further turmoil at a time of economic gloom and growing threats from militants.

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Mr Sharif told journalists in Islamabad that the PPP had broken promises, in particular over the issue of the judges. "When written documents are repeatedly flouted, trust cannot remain," he said. "We cannot find a ray of hope."

However, he said his party wanted to play a constructive role in opposition, indicating that he will not try to bring down the government for now.

PPP leader Asif Zardari, whose wife Benazir Bhutto was assassinated in December, has announced that he will stand for the presidential election on 6 September.

Mr Sharif now says his party will put up a candidate against him.

Uncomfortable

The PPP fears that if all the judges sacked by Mr Musharraf get their jobs back, they may invalidate an amnesty that paved the way for Mr Zardari and Ms Bhutto to return to the country last year.

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Political vacuum in Pakistan
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Pakistan election winners not so moderate

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Political Vacuum in Pakistan

Now with Musharraf out of the political picture in Pakistan, a power struggle between Zardari and Sharif is brewing over who should replace Musharraf as president. Zardari, Benazir Bhutto's widower, is leader of the largest party in the Pakistani parliament and Sharif is leader of the largest opposition party. After the parliamentary elections, they formed a coalition government. One of the main factors for keeping the coalition together was their opposition to Musharraf.

Negotiations between the two parties to determine the next president is threatening to split the coalition. On Tuesday, members of Sharif's party met with members from Zardari's party but stormed out of the meeting without talking to the media. The second largest opposition party, MQM, is supporting Zardari for president. The longer it takes to nominate a president, the more likely the cracks in the coalition will threaten to dissolve it.

NATO general,David D. McKiernan, NATO commander of Afghanistan has told AP that the political chaos in Pakistan has emboldened the taliban. While the politicians are wrangling over who will be the next president, the taliban are consildating their power in the North Western Provinces. Not only are the taliban consildating their power but they're expanding.

Once again, Pakistan is becoming the hub for mujahideen wanting to fight NATO in Afghanistan. There has been a significant increase in attacks across the Pakistani-Afghanistan border in recent months. General Mckiernan also noted that NATO forces are encountering a number of foreign fighters, for example Chechens, Turks and Middle Eastern fighters as well as "sometimes Europeans.".

Victory in Afghanistan is totally dependant on what happens to the taliban's safe havens in Pakisatn. The political landscape in Pakistan does not paint a very conforting picture that the terrorist safe havens will be dealt with.

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