The response to the PML-N withdrawal from the ruling coalition was not one of great surprise. Dawn (August 26) says, “ The Pakistan Muslim League-N on Monday finally quit the five-month-old ruling coalition because of differences with the Pakistan People’s Party on the issues of reinstatement of the deposed judges and unilateral nomination of PPP co-chairman Asif Zardari as a presidential candidate.” The report adds that: “The PML-N also announced that it would field former chief justice Saeeduz Zaman Siddiqui as its candidate for the Sept 6 presidential election”.There was a sense of remorse in Sharif’s tone — according to The News,“Nawaz Sharif said the PML-N after going to the last limit and seeing no further ray of hope decided to end its coalition with the PPP .The PML-N leader showed to the media the two-page written agreement with PPP Co-chairman Asif Ali Zardari, which was signed on August 7, 2008 in Islamabad. Sharif said both pages of the agreement, according to which resolution was to be submitted in the National Assembly to restore the judges to the November 2, 2007 position within 24 hours of the impeachment or resignation of Pervez Musharraf, bear his and Zardari’s signatures”.While it remains to be seen whether Nawaz Sharif can cash in on his popularity, there is no doubt that it is at its peak. Masooda Bano in an opinion piece in The News (August 29) says that the decision of the PML (N) to part ways with the PPP was not unexpected:“The PPP leadership, especially Asif Ali Zardari, had repeatedly broken promises on issues of national interest and Nawaz Sharif had repeatedly given him more chances. But, it had become clear quite earlier on that the real problem rests with Zardari’s ambitions. Critical issues like reinstatement of judges do not seem to suit his plans”. She adds that “ .If there is going to be any good outcome from this parliament then it will be a result of strong opposition and not of the goodwill of the PPP leadership. The hope thus lies with the PML-N..”Zardari for presidentApart from the Sharif-Zardari separation, the Pakistani press was abuzz with Asif Zardari’s prospects as president of Pakistan. The Nation (August 29) quotes Imran Khan as saying,“ that Asif Zardari got a green signal from the Bush administration after giving assurance that he would serve the US better than Pervez Musharraf”. Shafqat Mahmood, in an opinion piece for The News says:“The president should be a person above reproach, someone who is considered venerable . not someone who in the eyes of many has been acquitted by a non-functional legal system or against whom charges have been dropped through a political deal. This perception about Zardari makes him controversial .”He makes some interesting claims — “. the revelations that he underwent psychiatric treatment or had various nasty-sounding mental illnesses have not had a very negative reaction. Partly this is because no one thinks Zardari is mentally unsound.” Secondly, he does not enjoy unanimous support of the US as many believe. Finally, the all-important Pakistan army is not quite gleeful about Zardari as president.Election buzz The Nation (August 29) writes that interestingly, PML-N offered to withdraw its presidential candidate in favour of Asif Ali Zardari provided,“the PPP restores the deposed judges and repeals 17th amendment ahead of September 6 presidential election”. Dawn reports: “the Election Commission on Thursday accepted the nomination papers of three main candidates for the president’s post — Asif Ali Zardari of the PPP, Saeeduzzaman Siddiqui of PML-N and Mushahid Hussain Sayed of PML-Q. The nomination papers of the covering candidates of the PPP and the PML-N, Faryal Talpur and Roedad Khan, were also found valid during scrutiny conducted by Chief Election Commissioner Qazi Mohammad Farooq who is the returning officer for the polls to be held on Sept 6”.
