PML-N ministers quit Pakistan government

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Islamabad: All the nine Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) ministers on Tuesday quit the six-week-old Pakistan government over the issue of restoration of deposed judges, pushing the country into a fresh phase of political uncertainty.

Pakistan People's Party (PPP), heading the coalition, decided to keep the ministerial portfolios, except for Finance, vacant hoping to bring around Nawaz Sharif's party which pulled out its ministers after the deadline for reinstating the judges sacked by President Pervez Musharraf expired on Monday.

The ministers drove to Prime Minister Yousuf Raza Gilani's house a little after 1300 hrs (Pakistan time) and submitted their resignation letters to him. Most of them had given up their official security and other protocol arrangements on Monday.

Before calling on Gilani, the PML-N ministers held a meeting in Parliament to finalise their strategy and also consulted party chief Sharif over phone, sources said.

The PML-N has decided to withdraw its ministers but Sharif said his party would continue to give issue-based support to the PPP-led government.

The ministers told Gilani, who belongs to the PPP, that their participation in the Cabinet was strictly linked to the reinstatement of the judges within 30 days of the government being formed, sources said.

After this initial deadline expired on April 30, an extension was made till May 12. After this second deadline also expired, the PML-N ministers had no option but to tender their resignations, the sources quoted them as telling Gilani.

However, there were reports that PPP co-chairman Asif Ali Zardari, who is currently abroad, had directed Gilani not to accept the resignations as it is being anticipated that the PML-N could rejoin the coalition in future.