Zardari and Gilani also reviewed contacts with various political parties and leaders to defuse tensions.
As the US and the UK tightened the screws on Pakistan’s president Asif Ali Zardari, asking him to accept a reconciliation deal before March 16 or step down, there were signs that Zardari would give in.
Local media reports said Zardari had agreed to lift governor’s rule in Punjab and allow the main opposition PML-N to form the government in the politically crucial province.
According to well-placed diplomatic circles in Islamabad, after several rounds of talks with key political players in Islamabad, America’s ambassador in Islamabad and Britain’s high commissioner for Pakistan, in consultation with army chief general Ashfaq Pervez Kayani, came up with a formula to bring the perilous situation under control.
Gilani asked to convince Zardari
Asif Ali Zardari received a series of phone calls on Thursday from US special envoy to Pakistan Richard Holbrooke, British foreign secretary David Milliband, and American ambassador Anne Patterson.
Sources in Islamabad said they told him that political instability in Pakistan had affected the ‘war on terror’ and he should take immediate steps to defuse the crisis. But since he was unwilling to show flexibility, the international power players decided to float a reconciliatory formula.
Prime minister Yousaf Raza Gilani has been given the task of convincing Zardari to accept the deal which calls for restoration of the Punjab government and conditional reinstatement of the deposed judges of the superior courts so that the opposition parties are made to call off their long march to Islamabad. The sources claimed that Zardari’s fate would depend on his decision to reject or accept the formula.
All eyes are now on Kayani, who kept shuttling between the president’s and the prime minister’s residences on Friday in a bid to defuse the growing political crisis.
Diplomatic circles pointed out that Kayani’s meeting with Zardari was significant as it came hours after a statement by admiral Michael Mullen, chairman of the joint chiefs of staff of the US, that “general Ashfaq Pervez Kayani is not in favour of a military coup, just like general Pervez Musharraf”.
The Dawn News channel quoted official sources as saying that after back-to-back meetings with Gilani and Kayani, Zardari was ready “in principle” to end governor’s rule in Punjab, imposed on February 25 after the Supreme Court barred PML-N leaders Nawaz and Shahbaz Sharif from holding elected office.
But there was no official word on the developments until late at night.
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