Split in Pakistani coalition dashes hopes of many

By Zeeshan Haider

ISLAMABAD (Reuters) - Pakistanis are shocked by the split of a six-week-old coalition government on which they had pinned hopes for stability and change, and fear another bout of political polarisation and turbulence.

Former prime minister Nawaz Sharif, who heads the second biggest party in the coalition, announced on Monday his members were quitting the cabinet after failing to reach agreement with the party of slain former prime minister Benazir Bhutto on the restoration of judges fired by President Pervez Musharraf.

The two parties defeated former army chief Musharraf's allies in a February election and their alliance had raised hopes for a stable civilian government in a country ruled by generals for more than half its history since its independence in 1947.

"I voted in the hope that something good will happen but I don't see that," said Nighat Anis, a teacher at a school on the outskirts of the capital, Islamabad. "I'm very upset, really very upset. Sometimes I think I should leave the country."

The nine members of Sharif's party in the government, including Finance Minister Ishaq Dar, handed in their resignations on Tuesday but Prime Minister Yousaf Raza Gilani declined to accept them.

Gilani wanted to wait for the return of his party leader, Asif Ali Zardari, an aide said. Zardari, widower Benazir Bhutto and leader of her party since her assassination, was due back from Britain late on Tuesday.

The fate of the judges has monopolised the attention of the coalition parters since the election, to the cost, critics say, of action on surging inflation, a slumping currency and stocks and the fight against militancy.

The rupee has fallen 10 percent this year as the brewing political crisis has undermined a currency under pressure from a surging oil import bill and fiscal deficit.