"PPP, PML-N still 'poles apart' on 'oust Musharraf, reinstate CJ' issue"

Lahore, Mar 6 : Even as the PML-N continues to stick to its demand of reinstating deposed Chief Justice Iftikhar Chowdhary and removing President Pervez Musharraf, and the PPP being indifferent to the demand, chances are bleak that the two parties would be able to form a stable alliance.

Acknowledging the differences, PPP leadership said that the two parties were "poles apart" on these two issues, and that it has no problem against Musharraf continuing in the post as far as he does not indulge in making the President House a hub of political activities.

Prior to coming on a common platform to form the new government, both the parties are holding rounds of parleys to arrive at a formula suiting both the parties. A PPP leader who attended talks between the two sides, said: "We are poles apart. The PML-N just wants that all existing judges should be sent home and those deposed on Nov 3 should be reinstated."

Indicating that the two sides would continue their deliberations in an attempt to find some common ground for co-operation, he said: "Nothing is common between the two sides and nothing is likely to be common."

Sources close to Mian Nawaz Sharif and privy to the discussions held by the two sides on Tuesday night, also confirmed that the PPP team had asked the PML-N to soften its stand on the question of judges and not to make it priority item on its agenda.

The PML-N sources further said that their party could not afford to change its stance on the deposed judges and President Musharraf.

A PPP leader said that President Musharraf was under no obligation to seek a confidence vote from the new parliament. "There is no such provision in the Constitution. However, if he wants to show his following in the new house there is no harm in taking such an initiative," the leader said, adding that the PPP was not calling on the president to prove that he enjoyed majority's support.

"Let the new system take off. We want all matters in accordance with the Constitution. If the president stays non-partisan and doesn't convert the Presidency into a hub of political conspiracies, we will have no problem working with him."

ANI