ISLAMABAD — Former Pakistani prime minister Nawaz Sharif called an important meeting of his party Monday after talks to reinstate judges sacked by President Pervez Musharraf failed, putting the ruling coalition in danger.
Sharif would hold detailed consultations with senior leaders of his Pakistan Muslim League Nawaz (PML-N) before announcing a future line of action, senior party leader Raja Zafarul Haq said.
"It is expected that our ministers may quit the government," Haq told AFP, after Sharif held a preliminary meeting with some close aides on his return from London.
Sharif called Monday's meeting after negotiations in London with his coalition partner Asif Ali Zardari, co-chairman of slain former premier Benazir Bhutto's Pakistan People's Party (PPP), failed to bridge their differences over the judges' issue.
Sharif wants the restoration of the judges through a parliamentary resolution while Zardari says it should be through a package of constitutional reforms.
The two parties formed an alliance after defeating allies of President Musharraf in February 18 elections.
Sharif had given a May 12 deadline for reinstatement of the judges fired by Musharraf under emergency rule in November.
May 12 marks the first anniversary of clashes between supporters of the sacked judges and Musharraf in Karachi in which some 40 people were killed.
Musharraf deposed chief justice Iftikhar Muhammad Chaudhry and dozens of other judges when it appeared they might overturn his re-election as president in October last year.
Reinstatement of the judges is likely to cause a major headache for embattled former army chief Musharraf, a key US ally, who considers them hostile to his rule.
Amid deadlock on the issue, US Assistant Secretary of State for South Asia Richard Boucher also held separate sessions with Sharif and Zardari in London, officials said.
Boucher's discussions focused on his desire that "the coalition should not break up," Haq said.
Haq stressed that the PML-N had made it clear at the time of joining the coalition that it would withdraw its ministers from the government if the deadline was not met.
"The compromise was that we will join the cabinet and they will support a parliamentary resolution on the reinstatement of the judges," he said.
However he said "the coalition will stay for the time being."
"We have told them we will not let you down. We will support the government."
Prime Minister Syed Yousuf Raza Gilani in a weekend statement reiterated his stand on the issue, state media said.
"We are committed to the revival of judiciary but we won't take any step which is unconstitutional or illegal, or which may trigger a clash of institutions," he said.