Making fresh efforts to win back the estranged ally, PPP leader Asif Ali Zardari on Thursday requested PML-N chief Nawaz Sharif to rejoin Pakistan’s ruling coalition but the former premier said it is not possible in the “near future.”Zardari made the request when he telephoned Sharif, senior PML-N leader Ahsan Iqbal told reporters. The PPP chief also asked Sharif, who pulled out of the coalition on Monday, to withdraw the PML-N’s candidate from the presidential poll to be held on September six.During the phone conversation, Zardari referred to his apology extended to Sharif shortly after he broke away from the coalition on Monday as well as his comments about being unable to restore the deposed judges due to “pressures from certain quarters”.Sharif thanked Zardari for his apology but said the PML-N would not like to rejoin the coalition “in the near future”.The PML-N chief split from the ruling coalition after accusing Zardari of reneging on several agreements to reinstate dozens of judges deposed by former President Pervez Musharraf during last year’s Emergency rule. The PML-N has fielded former Chief Justice Saeed-uz-Zaman Siddiqui against Zardari in the presidential polls.Zardari had apologised to Sharif on Monday itself for hurting his feelings and hinted that certain powers within and outside Pakistan, which had played a role in the ouster of Musharraf, were opposed to the restoration of the deposed judges.In another indication that the PML-N is not keen on rejoining the coalition, senior party leader Chaudhry Nisar Ali Khan met Prime Minister Yousuf Raza Gilani and asked him to accept the resignations of nine PML-N ministers who had quit the Cabinet in May.The PML-N ministers had resigned after the government failed to meet two deadlines for reinstating the sacked judges. Gilani has so far not accepted their resignations.Khan also asked Gilani to issue directives to end the military operations against the Taliban in Bajaur Agency, where nearly 300,000 people have been displaced due to fighting between security forces and militants.Khan also requested the Prime Minister to ensure that separate seats were allocated to PML-N members in the National Assembly following their decision to sit in the opposition.Following the PML-N’s split from the coalition, the PPP has begun selectively reinstating the deposed judges. Eight deposed judges of the Sindh High Court were restored to their positions on Wednesday after they took a fresh oath.The PML-N had been insisting that all the deposed judges should be reinstated at the same time through a parliamentary resolution and an executive order issued by the Prime Minister. The PML-N has also said that administering a fresh oath to the judges is tantamount to validating their sacking by Musharraf.Musharraf resigned on August 18 to avoid being impeached by the coalition, thus necessitating the holding of presidential polls.The three main candidates in the fray for the post are Zardari, former Chief Justice Siddiqui and opposition PML-Q leader Mushahid Hussain Sayed.
