Deadline set for Pakistan coalition

ISLAMABAD, Pakistan, July 23 (UPI) -- The party of former Pakistani Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif has given an Aug. 15 deadline to its coalition partner to resolve various pending issues.

Sharif's Pakistan Muslim League faction informed the Pakistan People's Party it will stay in the coalition only if steps are taken to reinstate judges dismissed by President Pervez Musharraf during his brief emergency rule last year, the Press Trust of India reported.

Other issues in the Aug. 15 deadline include moving ahead with the impeachment of Musharraf, who deposed Sharif in 1999 in a military coup, implementation of the two parties' Charter of Democracy, and a policy review on the war against terrorism, the report said.

The two partners have been at loggerheads over when and how to resolve some of the issues since they formed the government last March.

A close aide of Sharif was quoted as telling Pakistan's The News that his boss, after consultations with party leaders and friends, had made up his made up to quit the coalition if the demands are not met.