PML-N unlikely to demand Zardari's resignation over NRO - India News and Travel Times Provides India-centric and other News and Features

While the Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) leadership is facing pressure from some party 'hawks' to formally demand resignations of President Asif Ali Zardari and NRO-tainted ministers, it is likely to follow the advice of 'doves' who want to avoid a confrontation with the Pakistan People's Party (PPP). Although Khawaja Asif demanded Zardari's resignation hours before the Supreme Court's verdict on the NRO, the party did not put forward any drastic demand after a top-level consultative meeting on December 18. According to sources, "hawks" pushed Shahbaz Sharif - who was presiding over the brainstorming session - to come down on the PPP after the SC judgment and blatantly demanded resignations of the president and other NRO beneficiaries, but the "doves" opposed the idea. A PML-N leader said a confrontation with the PPP could destabilise Punjab, where the PML-N lacked the majority required for an independent government. Meanwhile, PML-Q leader Dr Tahir Ali Javed told Daily Times that a possible confrontation between PPP and the PML-N over the NRO could be a threat to the two parties' coalition in Punjab. "Our group, which has the support of around 61 PML-Q MPAs ... will not let the PML-N's Punjab government collapse, as we are in a legal position to go into an alliance with the PML-N in case of the PPP quits," Javed said. "If PML-N goes face-to-face with PPP in the prevailing situation, instead of by-elections, a Bangladesh-style government could surface, which would be simply unacceptable for the PML-N," he added.