Pakistan Views

Talks between the two major ruling coalition partners on Tuesday failed to break the impasse over the restoration of judges.Co-chairman, Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP) Asif Ali Zardari’s and president Pakistan Muslim League Nawaz (PML-N) Shahbaz Sharif held talks at Zardari’s residence in Dubai but could not come to any conclusion on the issue.
PML-N members have avoided media to tell the detail of talks.On Monday the two sides had a marathon session spread over several hours before they left the talks inconclusive prior to the dinner.The deadlock was reportedly on linkage of the resolution for judges’ restoration with the constitutional package for the judiciary, and the PPP was not ready to take the two, separately.On the other hand, the PML-N also refused to get the two - resolution and constitutional package - linked and made it clear to the PPP that the resolution and the constitutional package were two separate things and both must be treated separately.Further, there was a deadlock on the constitutional package too, as the PML-N was opposed to slashing down the tenure of the judges and simply wanted the restoration of the superior courts judges to pre-November 3 position. But PPP wanted to get the resolution linked with the constitutional package and insisted that the two should be tabled simultaneously in the Lower House of Parliament. The proposals formulated by the seven-member committee from two sides to hammer out differences on the issue, were discussed between Asif Zardari and Shahbaz Sharif. But, having failed to break the ice, the two sides left the negotiating table empty handed, said sources privy to the talks.