May 12, 2008	Monday	Jamadi-ul-Awwal 6, 1429

ISLAMABAD, May 11: A crucial meeting of the Pakistan Muslim League-N’s central working committee and parliamentary group will be held here on Monday amid fears that the two major parties in the ruling coalition may part ways after the expiry of the second deadline for reinstatement of the judges.

PML-N chief Mian Nawaz Sharif is returning from London on Monday morning to preside over the meeting to be held in the afternoon.

According to sources, the PML-N is likely to withdraw its ministers from the federal cabinet and gradually separate itself from the government but may continue to support it for some time.

Education Minister Ahsan Iqbal told Dawn the peoples’ mandate was clear and it was the obligation of the political forces to meet their expectations by following the Charter of Democracy and the Murree Declaration.

“One hopes that Mian Nawaz Sharif brings some good news when he arrives in the federal capital, otherwise the party

will be left with no option but

to quit the coalition cabinet,”

he said, adding that the PML-N would remain in the cabinet only if the Charter of Democracy was implemented in its true spirit.

The collapse of the coalition would be a great blow to democracy, he said, adding that the PML-N had done all it could to resolve the judges issue.

Mr Iqbal alleged that conspiracies were being hatched against the coalition and saving it would be a test of the political acumen of its leaders.PML-N spokesman Siddiqul Farooq said the party’s strategy would be decided in Monday’s meeting.

He said the party had already announced that its ministers would quit the cabinet if the judiciary was not restored to the Nov 2, 2007, position and its CWC and parliamentary group might come up with the same decision.

Mr Farooq, however, clarified that the PML-N would not become a part of any move to destabilise the PPP government.