August 22, 2008	Friday	Sha'aban 19, 1429

WASHINGTON, Aug 21: PML-N leader Nawaz Sharif has sent an emissary to Washington to explain his position on the war on terror and on the judges’ issue, reminding many of the 1990s when both Mr Sharif and Benazir Bhutto had hired lobbyists in the US capital to win American support.

As Rana Mashhood Ahmed Khan, deputy speaker of the Punjab Assembly, was hobnobbing with officials at the State Department, Pakistan’s ambassador Husain Haqqani was explaining PPP’s position to a group of US scholars and policy makers on the same issues.

“Some people think that being stubborn is the same thing as being principled,” said Mr Haqqani in an apparent reference to PML-N’s stance on the judges’ issue.

“We are not stubborn,” said Rana Mashhood. “We believe that an independent judiciary can go a long way in fostering national unity.”

But neither side showed much flexibility in their approach to the judges’ dispute.

“No minus one. Any solution should include Chaudhry Iftikhar’s reinstatement as the chief justice,” Rana Mashhood said.

“The judiciary will be restored … but, will the restoration be exactly what certain lawyers and certain political leaders want? I don’t think that that is even necessary for Pakistan to move forward,” said Mr Haqqani.

In his address to a major Washington think-tank, Centre for Strategic and International Studies, he made it clear that the decision taken by the majority party in the Pakistani parliament would prevail because that was how democracy functioned. “So, if certain lawyers and certain politicians refuse to accept the decision of the majority of members of parliament, that doesn’t mean that that is not what will prevail,” he said.

Rana Mashhood disagreed. “This is Mr Haqqani’s position. This is not what PPP’s central leadership tells us,” he told a PML-N meeting in Washington.

Both Mr Haqqani and Rana Mashhood, however, insisted that despite differences, the ruling coalition would continue to work together. Yet, PML-N’s decision to reach out directly to the US administration and lawmakers, instead of working through the embassy, reflected a lack of trust between the two major partners of the ruling alliance.

It reminded political observers in Washington of the 1990s when, like today, PML-N ruled over Punjab while PPP controlled the centre. And both wanted Washington to support their efforts to bring the other down. To achieve this target, both hired influential lobbyists in Washington.

While PPP still has a lobbyist and is also helped by the official lobbyists for Pakistan, PML-N so far has not done so. But it already has taken the first step towards explaining his position to the Americans by sending an emissary to the US capital.

Rana Mashhood, however, told journalists that “no matter what, we will never support any move to bring down the central government. Not even if our government in Punjab is toppled.”

He added: “Although I was sent by my party, I am here to explain the problems Pakistan faces as a nation. We are telling the Americans if you do not help resolve these problems, they will haunt you too.”