We endorse Gilani’s appeal to MNS

PRIME Minister Syed Yousuf Raza Gilani Tuesday phoned PML(N) leader Mian Nawaz Sharif and appealed to him to review the decision regarding his Ministers’ resignation from the Federal Cabinet. In line with the announcement made a day earlier, PML(N) Ministers tendered their resignations but the Prime Minister has kept them pending till further consultations with the PPP Co-Chairman Asif Ali Zardari.

Similar appeals have also been made by leaders of other political parties, who consider early demise of the coalition as a bad omen for democratic stability. JUI(F) Chief Maulana Fazlur Rehman has offered his good offices to mediate between the two major coalition partners. MQM leader Altaf Hussain too had made an appeal to Mian Nawaz Sharif to reconsider the decision to quit the Cabinet. In fact, some of those sitting outside the loop have also expressed dismay over the rift between the PPP and PML(N) and want the two parties to work together for consolidation of the democratic process. Though PML(N) leaders have categorically stated that they would continue to extend cooperation to the Government yet it is quite obvious that the trust gap created by the judges’ issue and resignations would make it difficult to sustain the cooperative arrangement. In fact, the forthcoming scrutiny of nomination papers of Sharif brothers could trigger fresh controversy and lead to drawing of permanent lines if their papers are rejected on whatever ground. Under these circumstances, it would be mutually beneficial for the PPP and the PML(N) to revert back to their previous understanding on power sharing both at the Centre and in the Punjab. Leadership of both the parties should rise above personal or party considerations and cement their ties for the greater good of the country. Barring judges’ issue, the coalition Cabinet was performing well despite separate manifestos and identities and the Prime Minister himself has acknowledged this fact. We are of the considered view that the nation can no more afford confrontation and it is time to concentrate on the grave challenges facing the country.