Sharif calls for clipping of Zardari's wings

The Pakistan People's Party-led government should scrap the President's sweeping powers and restore the Constitution to its position in October 1999 when the military took over the rule in a coup, Opposition PML-N chief Nawaz Sharif has said.

Sharif, who forced the PPP to reinstate judges sacked during the 2007 emergency by leading a massive protest on the issue earlier this week, said the government should also look into a Supreme Court judgment that barred him and his brother Shahbaz Sharif from electoral politics.

He said the government should scrap the 17th amendment to the Constitution that gives the President sweeping powers to dismiss the prime minister and dissolve Parliament and restore the constitution to its position in October 1999, when a PML-N government was removed by former military ruler Pervez Musharraf.

Sharif said the entire country had rejected the Supreme Court's judgment disqualifying him and his brother from contesting polls and holding elected office.

"The federal government should look into the judgment," he told a news conference at his residence in Lahore on Wednesday.

After the apex court delivered its verdict on February 25, President Asif Ali Zardari imposed Governor's Rule in Punjab province, which was ruled by the PML-N. However, Sharif said there was no justification for the Governor's Rule and demanded that the PML-N government should be restored.

Sharif said Prime Minister Yousuf Raza Gilani had indicated his willingness to hold discussions on these issues. He also called on all political parties to work together to tackle the problems facing the country.

"Pakistan's problems cannot be resolved by any one political party. Rather all parties and the people should unite in this regard," he said.

Describing the restoration of the deposed judges as a victory of the people, he said that Pakistanis had proved they had the power to change the "obsolete system" in the country.

Sharif said the PML-N had given no thought on forming an alliance with the PPP at the centre or in Punjab. The PML-N and PPP were earlier allies in the federal and provincial governments.