Finally they agreed to disagree on the question of reinstatement of 'your judges and my judges'. Nawaz Sharif has pulled out his party ministers from the federal coalition cabinet and asked Asif Ali Zardari that he was at liberty to follow suit in Punjab if he desires.
He also promised his party would sit on the treasury benches in the National Assembly and said he would support the government on an issue-by-issue basis. The PPP expects him to revise his decision and therefore ministerial slots vacated by the PML (N) will not be filled, barring the Finance portfolio which has to be filled given that the federal budget cannot be delayed.
That the coalition so assiduously built should split so soon has shocked the people. However, to a discerning mind, it was not entirely unexpected. Here were two leaders, Asif Ali Zardari and Nawaz Sharif, both pragmatic and determined not to let slip from their hands the 'gold fish' they caught after years of anxiously waiting on the banks of murky waters.
But they also carried the crosses of public commitments, which they cannot afford to betray. Nawaz Sharif had promised voters if elected he would reinstate the 60 judges, including former Chief Justice Iftikhar Muhammad Chaudhry, deposed by President Musharraf in November last year. Asif Ali Zardari too had promised restoration of judges but in a manner that stands at cross-purposes with that of Nawaz Sharif's.
The Nawaz Sharif-led PML has stood its ground and said farewell to PPP-dominated coalition in the Centre. Their coalition in Punjab is still intact, but will it survive the aftershocks of the tumbler that shook Islamabad remains to be seen. Political power has its own dynamics; and as water finds on its own the place to reside, power operates independent of the whims and wishes of political leaders.
Of course, both the PPP and PML (N) leaders would like to remain friends across the wall but are they charismatic enough to be able to control the ebb and flow of situations that are already in the making? Thanks to eight years of misrule in the name of good governance the evolving scenario would be inevitably held hostage to instability and uncertainty - a condition likely to be complicated by recurring food shortages, unending power outages, pandemic law and order situation and militancy buffeting the country's tribal region.
The abnormality of the situation will throw up formidable challenges that in turn would breed tension-ridden misgivings between various centres of power and influence. The fact that the PPP has a worldview essentially diverging from that of the PML (N) about the role of the United States will definitely impact their relationship.
Then there are some bureaucratic appointments within the government that can vitiate mutual trust; a case in point is the revoked postponement of the by-elections engineered by a close aide of Zardari. However, the factor that is likely to acquire a make-or-break potential in the PPP-PML (N) relations, and may even bring them to a head on collision, is the issue of judges' reinstatement.
The civil society, lawyers and other segments of civil society, are heavily committed in favour of reinstatement of judges and now that the last deadline to resolve this issue is over the struggle for judges' restoration, it appears, they are going to take to the streets - with consequences that can have serious law and order implications.
Nawaz Sharif has volunteered to join the pro-reinstatement protests. But there is another aspect to the scenario expected to unfold in the wake of PML (N)'s decision to leave the federal cabinet. Quite unexpectedly, at the press conference Nawaz Sharif, while announcing withdrawal from the cabinet, also informed the media of his decision to stand for by-election.
In simple words, he has conveyed his support to the continuity of the political system put in place by February elections. That also marks a significant departure, if not a complete break, from the forces that boycotted the last polls. These very forces are now in the forefront of the movement to not only restore the deposed judges but also bring down the political product of the February elections.
The PML(N)'s decision to leave the federal government has added to the unpredictability of the events to come. What would happen in the coming days and weeks can not make out in the thick haze permeating national politics. But Zardari does not seem to have given up on Sharif that he has come to know of. Both know full well that politics is the art of the possible.
Even when Nawaz Sharif asked his party men to resign from the cabinet he did not ask them to sit on the opposition benches. Then there is this unrelenting pressure from Pakistan's foreign friends to let the system work despite its many weaknesses.
Given Pakistan's economic difficulties we believe this persuasive pressure can be ignored at the cost of national wellbeing. We therefore don't see the PML(N)'s cabinet withdrawal as the last scene of our political drama. But we do recommend a realistic appraisal of the situation and its pragmatic handling - because the stakes are too high.
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