July 23, 2008	Wednesday	Rajab 19, 1429

ISLAMABAD, July 22: Heads of parties in the ruling coalition are meeting at the Prime Minister’s House on Wednesday for an objective assessment of Pakistan’s partnership with the United States in the war on terror and to work out a line of action for the future.

Meanwhile, in what some observers believed was part of preparation for the meeting, Chief of Army Staff Gen Ashfaq Parvaiz Kayani briefed Prime Minister Yousuf Raza Gilani on Tuesday on developments in the Fata operation.

According to sources, an expansion in the federal cabinet is likely to be announced on Thursday when about a dozen new ministers may take oath. It is learnt that the PML-N will take major decisions at the meeting despite the fact that its chief Mian Nawaz Sharif, who is in London, will miss the meeting.

Sources in the PPP expressed the hope that PML-N ministers would rejoin the cabinet because their resignations had not been accepted. The resignations had not yet been sent to the president.

The coalition meeting is also significant in view of prime minister’s announcement on Saturday about giving “good news on the judges’ issue”.

The meeting, the sources said, was likely to be attended by PPP co-chairman Asif Zardari, adding that it had been convened after the prime minister had held talks with coalition partners Maulana Fazlur Rahman and Asfandyar Wali Khan who would also attend.

PML-N president and Punjab Chief Minister Shahbaz Sharif will represent his party at the meeting.