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ISLAMABAD–A day after their unified effort ousted president Pervez Musharraf, the two major parties in Pakistan's governing coalition fell into disarray yesterday when they failed to agree on the restoration of the chief justice of the Supreme Court.
The instant deterioration in relations became evident when Nawaz Sharif, leader of the Pakistan Muslim League-N, walked out of a meeting here and headed back to his home in Lahore, a four-hour drive away.
Party members said Sharif had delivered an ultimatum to the senior coalition party, the Pakistan Peoples Party, led by Asif Ali Zardari, to consent to the return of the chief justice, Iftikhar Mohammad Chaudhry, within 72 hours, or Sharif's party would leave the government. Chaudhry was among some 60 judges suspended by Musharraf last year.
Even by the standards of Pakistan's hard-boiled and volatile political scene, the public discord between the political leaders was surprising, politicians said, a sign that opposition to Musharraf may have been the strongest thread tying them together.
The departure of Sharif's party would greatly weaken the government but would not necessarily mean there would be new elections.
Adding to uncertainty about how the country's new government will deal with growing extremist violence, a bombing outside the emergency gate of a hospital crowded with Shiite Muslim mourners in Pakistan's volatile northwest killed at least 23 people and wounded 15 yesterday, officials said.
The motive for the blast in Dera Ismail Khan district appeared to be sectarian, with the Shiites the apparent targets, district official Mohsin Shah told Associated Press.
Party leaders Zardari and Sharif have sharply disagreed over Chaudhry's reinstatement ever since they became coalition partners.
Sharif based his election campaign earlier this year on the reinstatement of some 60 judges fired by Musharraf, including the independently minded Chaudhry. A poll in June by the International Republican Institute, a Washington-based group, showed 83 per cent of Pakistanis wanted the Supreme Court justices reinstated.
Zardari is said to prefer Abdul Hamid Dogar, the chief justice installed by Musharraf after he imposed emergency rule last year.
In another unexpected move after Musharraf's resignation, the chief of staff of the Pakistani army, Gen. Ashfaq Parvez Kayani, made a surprise visit yesterday to the Afghan capital, Kabul.
A spokesperson for the Afghan military, Gen. Zaher Azimi, said Kayani attended a meeting of the tripartite commission, a body composed of the military leaders of Pakistan, Afghanistan and the United States coalition and NATO forces in Afghanistan. Kayani's presence was notable, not only because of its timing so quickly after Musharraf's departure, but because it was believed to be the first time the Pakistani general had attended a meeting of the commission in Kabul since assuming command of the Pakistani military last November.
Relations between Afghanistan and Pakistan have been particularly tense in the last few months after Afghan President Hamid Karzai repeatedly accused Pakistan of helping Taliban fighters cross the border into Afghanistan.
Prime Minister Stephen Harper said yesterday the removal of Pakistan's beleaguered president was "not unexpected," the Star's Tonda MacCharles reports.
"Obviously we are concerned that we have a strong government in Pakistan, and that the government be a strong ally in fighting terrorism in the region and in Afghanistan," Harper said.
