Islamabad, April 22:

Pakistan’s ruling coalition has failed to agree on a plan to restore judges sacked by President Pervez Musharraf, but will reinstate them “soon”, former premier Nawaz Sharif said today.

Sharif, the head of the Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz party, held two days of talks with Asif Ali Zardari, the widower of slain opposition leader Benazir Bhutto, in a bid to thrash out details of the plan. The issue is divisive because any move to bring back sacked chief justice Iftikhar Muhammad Chaudhry could lead to a direct stand-off with Musharraf, risking further instability in the militancy-hit, nuclear-armed nation.

“A resolution will soon be in the national assembly (lower house of parliament) for the restoration of the judges and the constitutional package will come later,” Sharif said at a joint news conference with Zardari. “I want it to be done quickly and he wants us to wait. I am showing patience but we are bound by the timeframe,” he added.

The coalition partners defeated Musharraf’s allies in elections in February and signed a pact early the following month pledging to restore the judges within 30 days of the new government taking power. Zardari, who took over the leadership of Bhutto’s PPP after she was assassinated in December, said a committee of coalition members would examine how best to implement the deal. He said he wanted a “broad-based” plan for the restoration of the judiciary, adding that he was in favour of “finding a commonality without any agitation.” Party insiders say the main division is whether to leave Chaudhry out of the plan to restore the judges — although there is even disagreement over when the 30 days began from. Musharraf deposed the country’s chief justice and dozens of other judges under a state of emergency in November.