Zardari (left) and Sharif in Islamabad. (AFP)

Karachi, Feb. 21: In what appeared to be a breakthrough on government formation, the two main players in the new National Assembly — Asif Ali Zardari of the PPP and former Premier Nawaz Sharif — tonight papered over differences and said at a joint news conference that they had resolved “in principle” to work together.

The meeting took place as Pakistan’s restive civil society mounted street pressure on the elected leaders to guarantee they will live by the anti-Musharraf mandate. In effect, that means confronting President Pervez Musharraf head-on, something PPP supremo Asif Ali Zardari still appears unprepared to do.

The Zardari-Nawaz meeting held out no concrete hope to the agitators. Nawaz Sharif, who has led the restoration demand stridently, wasn’t able to extract any firm guarantees from the PPP leader. Reading out a statement after their three-hour meeting in Islamabad this evening, Sharif said: “There is no disagreement in principle over the restoration of the judiciary, we will work out the modalities in parliament.”

This is closer to the position Zardari has maintained and the joint statement is being viewed as a climbdown on Nawaz Sharif’s part. Protagonists of the lawyers’ movement, have emphasised that parliamentary sanction is not required for the restoration of judges; they were removed by an executive order, they can be reinstated by one now.

Significantly, the two leaders also asked Musharraf to “respect the mandate” but stopped short of demanding that he step down. Nawaz Sharif had earlier categorically demanded Musharraf’s resignation, calling him “gair kaanooni (illegal)”.

Zardari has made it quite plain he is not interested in any confrontation with Musharraf. “This mandate is to change the manner of governance, it is not to change individuals,” he has repeatedly said. The overwhelming demand from political and civil society forces following the verdict has been that Musharraf step down or be impeached.

Musharraf, on his part, has remained unmoved by the results or demands that he quit. Indeed, he may still think he can play chief arbiter of Pakistan’s affairs. His camp has been hyperactive, muddying the waters here, letting out a veiled threat there.

It is not entirely coincidental that an old kickbacks case against Zardari has suddenly been activated in Swiss courts. It concerns a $ 55 million deposit — allegedly illegal commissions accepted by Zardari when Benazir Bhutto was Prime Minister.

The Pakistan government’s Swiss lawyer, Dominique Henchoz, has been quoted in the papers from Geneva as saying: “The dossier in court is a bomb against Zardari… his name appears on each page as a beneficiary of offshore companies.” Days after the nation celebrated the drubbing of pro-Musharraf forces, violent demonstrations broke out in major cities including Lahore, Islamabad and Karachi today, demanding a slew of assurances. Chief among them are the reinstatement of supreme court chief justice Chaudhary Iftikhar and other judges, and a roll-back on all emergency-era decisions of Musharraf.

Police had to tear gas an angry procession at the Karachi civil courts this morning. A dozen protestors were arrested, several injured in the lathicharge and property along the route set afire.

In Islamabad, security forces were locked in a protracted tussle to keep demonstrators from approaching Justice Iftikhar’s central Islamabad home, where he is under house arrest. Helmeted riot police jammed the routes to the judge’s residence and guards all across the capital was stepped up. Ire among lawyers has been fuelled afresh by the Musharraf regime’s order yesterday that Justice Iftikhar vacate his official house forthwith.

Last night PPP leader and president of the Supreme Court Bar Association Aitzaz Ahsan had led thousands through Lahore demanding the restoration of judges and the ouster of President Musharraf. “There will be fire on the streets if the judges of this country are ordered out of their homes after being illegally dismissed,” Ahsan said.

During the day, Nawaz Sharif added his own to the gathering “Musharraf-hatao” cry by announcing to surcharged followers in Islamabad that the struggle to reinstate the judges would be intensified. “There is no going back from this,” he announced to loud cheering, “Musharraf is illegal, he must go.” Sharif was emerging from a party meeting that unanimously elected him parliamentary leader even though he did not contest the elections.

Following his meeting with Zardari, Sharif appeared to have softened his earlier pre-conditions on the judiciary. Tehrik-i-Insaf leader Imran Khan has warned that Sharif will suffer for credibility if he goes back on his demand for restoration of the judges by March 9. “Nawaz got his votes because of the hard position he took,” Khan said. “He will immediately lose credibility if he does not stick to it.”

Sections of PPP remain suspicious of Zardari’s intentions. Some have begun to privately criticise their leader for not speaking unequivocally in favour of the dismissed judges and against President Musharraf. “That is clearly the spirit of the mandate, the lawyers’ agitation was the bedrock of the election campaign, but it appears Zardari is keener to make peace with the President and enjoy a stable innings in power, that is why he is constantly shifting the focus from agitational politics to matters like poverty and governance,” one of them said.

He also said that the Americans, a key factor in Pakistan’s power politics, appeared to be backing a “peaceful working arrangement” between President Musharraf and the PPP. “The Americans have backed Musharraf consistently and they still consider him an important ally in their global plans,” the PPP leader said. “My sense is they they are pushing Zardari to follow whatever pact they had brokered between the President and Benazir Bhutto.”

If that happens, doomsdayers who are predicting another election soon may not be far off the mark.