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ISLAMABAD: Pakistan's fragile ruling coalition was at risk of being pulled apart on Monday, setting the stage for a major political showdown two weeks before the country's lawmakers choose a new president.
Former premier Nawaz Sharif, head of the second-largest party in the coalition, has laid down a Monday deadline for the reinstatement of judges sacked by Pervez Musharraf, who resigned as president last week.
But it was unclear if the coalition's other main party, the PPP, would agree to their immediate restoration. Sharif has threatened to pull out of the coalition if the PPP refuses.
The PPP still would have enough allies in parliament to hold the government together with the withdrawal of Sharif's party, but analysts say that governing in the long term would be difficult with Sharif in opposition.
The political bickering has also underlined concerns for Pakistan's stability as the country tries to keep a lid on Islamic militants from the Taliban and Al-Qaeda.
Nearly 100 people were killed in suicide bombings last week alone. Pakistan Taliban say the bombings were carried out in response to a military campaign against them - and have threatened more attacks to come.
Musharraf sacked the judges last year to ensure there would be no legal challenges to his re-election as president while holding the dual role as head of Pakistan's powerful military.
Their sacking set off a wave of public protests, however, and eventually led to the coalition threatening to impeach Musharraf before he stepped down last Monday.
Now critics say the PPP may not want to restore the judges either, because of fears that they could overturn the amnesty on corruption charges that allowed PPP leader Asif Ali Zardari to return to the country last year.
Zardari took over the party after his wife Benazir Bhutto, another former premier was assassinated in December, and he is likely to be selected by lawmakers on September 6 as the new president.
But Sharif's party could split from the coalition and then run another candidate for the presidency if the two sides do not find common ground on the judges. Nomination papers are due to be filed by Tuesday.
"Our top priority is restoration of the judges and we want it done on Monday," Sharif's party spokesman, Siddiqul Farooq, said on Sunday.
"The alliance is intact today but its future depends on the fulfilment of the promise Zardari made for the restoration of the judges," he said.
A resolution on the reinstatement of the 60 judges, who include the independent-minded former chief justice Iftikhar Muhammad Chaudhry, would require the PPP's support to pass in parliament.
The political battle has come with the government trying to prosecute a military crackdown on militants in a troubled tribal region near the Afghan border.
The militants in the Bajaur region offered a unilateral ceasefire on Sunday, but the offer was rejected by the government.
- AFP/yb
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