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Talks with Zardari can take positive turn with removal of 17th Amendment: Sharif |
A positive outcome on talks with Pakistan President Asif
Ali Zardari and Prime Minister Yousuf Raza Gilani can only emerge if the government
abolishes the controversial 17th constitutional amendment, as agreed under the
Charter of Democracy (CoD), said former Prime Minister and Pakistan Muslim League
(Nawaz) chief Nawaz Sharif on Monday. Talking to journalists here, Sharif said
there was no clear agenda for his meeting with Zardari, but added that all national
issues will be discussed. He said the PML-N was in the opposition but it never
tried to destabilise the government. The dawn quoted Sharif as saying that the
country's leaders should always keep Pakistan 's interest first when they reach
agreements with other countries. Zardari and Sharif are scheduled to meet each
other on Monday during a banquet meeting being held in the honour of visiting
Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdagon, but none of the sides have come out
with any agenda for the talks. Political pundits believe that Zardari, during
the meeting, would try to pacify Sharif and win his support for the controversial
National Reconciliation Ordinance (NRO), which has already been submitted to parliament
for discussion and approval. However, experts do not foresee any breakthrough
as Nawaz, in return for support for the NRO, is expected to demand at least immediate
repeal of the 17th Amendment. The 17th Amendment bars people from serving a third
term as the country’s Prime Minister. Sharif could also ask for a cut in presidential
powers including the authority to appoint armed forces’ chiefs, experts believe.
Considering the past experiences of broken promises and mistrust between the two
parties, it is highly unlikely that the meeting would yield something positive.
They feared that the failure of the meeting would once again see both the political
parties indulge in confrontational politics similar to 1980s and 90s, which could
then have a detrimental effect on the state’s law and order situation. |
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