Pakistan Views

Prime Minister Yousuf Raza Gilani believes his government will survive its full term and key ally PML-N chief Nawaz Sharif will not withdraw support despite serious differences within Pakistan’s new ruling coalition on the tricky issue of reinstating dozens of judges.
Questions are being raised about the future of the two-month-old coalition led by Gilani after talks in London between PML-N chief Nawaz and PPP co-chairman to work out modalities for reinstating the deposed judges ended in deadlock over the weekend.The two parties have already missed the self-imposed deadline of April 30 for restoring the judges who were deposed for not endorsing last year’s emergency rule and Nawaz has been insisting that they should be reinstated by May 12. However, Zardari has not committed himself to this fresh deadline or agreed on a plan to reinstate the judges. Despite the sharp differences, Gilani said he believed the PML-N would not withdraw its ministers from his government even if the May 12 deadline is missed. “He (Nawaz) will support the government. Certainly,” Gilani told Indian interviewer Karan Thapar on the programme “India Tonight”.Asked about senior PML-N leader Javed Hashmi’s threat that the party will withdraw from the government if the judges are not restored, he said, “”This is (putting) a cart before the horse. Because they haven’t as yet decided what would be the fate. And even if they have to take a decision, then it is at the level of Nawaz and Zardari.”"But later, the modalities were to be worked out and then Nawaz gave the date for (May 12). Now both the leaders Nawaz and Zardari are meeting…in London and what would be the outcome, everybody would come to know.”Replying to a question on whether Nawaz trusted him and is prepared to accept his intention to reinstate the judges, Gilani said, “He is a very mature leader. I think there is no doubt about it.”The PPP’s intention is to resolve the issue, he said, adding: “But at the same time, we are working out the modalities and for example, if they (parliament) pass something which is not constitutional, it will be a problem. Therefore, we are working out the modalities for that.”
Gilani said he had “very good relations” with Zardari and dismissed speculation that the PPP co-chairman has the power while the Prime Minister is just a “front”. He said, “That is not true. We work collectively but I am the consensus, unanimous Prime Minister.”He added: “It’s a democratic party and the party has decided that the two offices should not be kept together. I was vice chairman of my party. Now the party office and the government office would be separated. He (Zardari) will be looking after the party affairs; I’ll be looking after the government affairs.”Asked whether Zardari makes the decisions and he implements them, Gilani said: “The party takes the decisions on policy matters…because we have decided that in future there should be more democracy within the party and the party should make the policies and they should be implemented and executed by the government.”Replying to a question on whether he had to defer to Zardari and Nawaz on key issues, Gilani said, “No, what I think fit, I implement it…If there is a need for consulting, I do it.Gilani said his two main goals are to restore law and order and tackle poverty to improve the people’s lives.