Sharif for joint strategy for reconciliation with PPP

Former premier Nawaz Sharif said his opposition PML-N party and the ruling PPP should evolve a joint strategy for political reconciliation in the wake of the Govt's decision to reinstate judges deposed during the 2007 emergency. Zardari's days in power may be numbered, say analysts

Former premier Nawaz Sharif on Monday said his opposition PML-N party and the ruling Pakistan People's Party should evolve a joint strategy for political reconciliation in the wake of the government's decision to reinstate judges deposed during the 2007 emergency.

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Sharif conveyed this view when Prime Minister Yousuf Raza Gilani telephoned him and his brother, former Punjab Chief Minister Shahbaz Sharif, to discuss the political situation after the government's move to reinstate former Supreme Court Chief Justice Iftikhar Chaudhry and other deposed judges.

Gilani said "political reconciliation among the democratic forces of the country would bring a positive change in the whole system" and help the country confront the challenges before it, said an official statement.

Responding to Gilani's offer for taking the reconciliation process forward, Nawaz Sharif "expressed confidence that the PPP and PML-N would jointly evolve a strategy in this regard," the statement said.

Giving in to pressure from the lawyers' movement and the PML-N, which organised a long march to press for the restoration of the deposed judges, the PPP-led government on Monday said they would be reinstated to their former positions.

The statement said the Sharif brothers congratulated Gilani "on his historic decision for saving the system by restoring judges and releasing political prisoners".