Zardari rejects ally's resignations

By Zeeshan Haider

ISLAMABAD (Reuters) - The head of Pakistan's ruling coalition has refused to accept the resignations of ministers from the party of former prime minister Nawaz Sharif and aims to persuade it to rejoin their six-week-old government.

Nine ministers from Sharif's Pakistan Muslim League (Nawaz), or PML (N), quit the cabinet led by the party of assassinated former Prime Minister Benazir Bhutto on Tuesday after their leaders failed to reach agreement on the restoration of judges sacked by President Pervez Musharraf in November.

But Asif Ali Zardari, Bhutto's widower and leader of the coalition, has told Prime Minister Yousaf Raza Gilani not to accept the resignations and he would persuade Sharif to withdraw them and rejoin the cabinet.

"Mr Asif Ali Zardari said that he was committed to promoting national reconciliation and asked the prime minister not to accept resignations tendered by the PML (N) ministers," the prime minister's office said in a statement issued late on Thursday.

The resignations have fueled fears that the coalition might collapse and plunge the nuclear-armed U.S. ally back into turbulence, though Sharif has assured he would continue to support the government from the outside.

Underlining those concerns, ratings agency Standard & Poor's cut Pakistan's sovereign rating on Thursday, citing increasing pressure from expanding budget and trade deficits against a volatile political setting.

SUSPICION