Sharif threat leaves Pakistan coalition on brink

0 Comments | AFP, August, 2008

ISLAMABAD (AFP) — Pakistan's coalition government was close to collapse Thursday after former premier Nawaz Sharif threatened to quit if judges sacked by ousted president Pervez Musharraf are not restored.

With a double suicide bombing outside Pakistan's main military arms factory highlighting the government's need to start tackling the country's problems, Sharif's warning plunged the alliance into further chaos.

It came a day before the leaders of the coalition that won elections in February, headed by the party of slain ex-prime minister Benazir Bhutto, were to hold last-ditch talks on the issue.

But in a sign that Bhutto's party is seeking to move forward on its own, MPs backed her widower, Asif Ali Zardari, to replace Musharraf as president of the...