November 09, 2008	Sunday	Ziqa'ad 10, 1429

ISLAMABAD, Nov 8: President Asif Zardari and PML-N chief Nawaz Sharif dined together on Saturday in the Aiwan-i-Sadr in what was described as their first social-cum-political meeting after Mr Sharif pulled out of the ruling coalition in August because of differences over the issues of restoration of the deposed judges and unilateral nomination of Mr Zardari as the presidential candidate.

Although there were no official word from the PPP and PML-N about the issues discussed at the dinner meeting, spokesmen for two parties said the two leaders discussed the “overall political situation”.

The alliance fell apart on August 25 — just one week after former president Gen (retd) Pervez Musharraf resigned to avoid a possible impeachment. Announcing that the party will sit in the opposition, the PML-N chief had accused Mr Zardari of repeatedly breaking promises he made for reinstating the judges. He also alleged the PPP had nominated Mr Zardari as its presidential candidate in violation of an agreement signed by the two leaders on Aug 7 when they announced the plan to impeach Musharraf.

President Zardari, who is also co-chairman of the PPP, had extended the invitation to Mr Sharif for the dinner soon after his return from an official visit to Saudi Arabia, giving an impression that he had done so on the insistence of the Saudi rulers who had good relations with the Sharif family.

According to spokesman for Presidency Farhatullah Babar, the dinner was attended by Mr Sharif, his wife Begum Kulsoom Nawaz, Prime Minister Yousuf Raza Gilani and his wife and MNA Faryal Talpur, the sister of Mr Zardari.

Before going to the Presidency for the dinner, Mr Sharif presided over a consultative meeting with senior leaders of his party at the Punjab House to finalise the agenda of the dinner-meeting.

It was attended by PML-N chairman Raja Zafarul Haq, Makhdoom Javed Hashmi, Opposition Leader in the National Assembly Chaudhry Nisar Ali Khan, secretary-general Iqbal Zafar Jhagra and information secretary Ahsan Iqbal.

Talking to Dawn, Ahsan Iqbal said that although the dinner-meeting was of social nature, Mr Sharif presented his party’s viewpoint on the prevailing political situation.

He said the PML-N wanted President Zardari to take steps for implementing the Charter of Democracy signed by the two parties in London in May 2006, adding that scrapping of the controversial 17th Amendment was the first point of the charter.

He said it was a matter of concern that the nation was still living under the system introduced by military dictator Musharraf and the country was being run under the 17th Constitutional Amendment.

Mr Iqbal said his party also wanted an early implementation of the resolution adopted last month during the in-camera session of the two houses of parliament on the security issue.

“Mr Zardari should first reinstate the judges, including deposed chief justice Iftikhar Mohammad Chaudhry, as a confidence-building measure,” he added.

He said that Mr Sharif had assured the president that the PML-N would use all means to strengthen democracy. He said his party believed that meetings should follow some positive outcome.

Some private TV channels reported that Mr Zardari sought Mr Sharif’s help in resolving the present crisis and showed his willingness to repeal the 17th Amendment.