President Aif Ali Zardari met with chief of the Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz Group (PML-N) Nawaz Sharif on Friday July 17, 2009, at Mr. Sharif’s residence in Raiwind (Lahore). The meeting is said to have been meant for normalizing the relations of the two political leaders and taking out differences on the issue of judiciary. However, the talks are thought to have failed for the most part though an accord was reached on some issues, according to newspaper stories.

The four-hour talks, said to have been arranged by the persuasion of foreign mediators, failed mostly because the PMN-N chief stressed on conducting local body polls on a non-party basis while President Zardari wanted to reserve the right of nominating administrators of local councils, i.e. maintaining the local governments as a federal subject.

Another important issue discussed was Nawaz Sharif’s right to becoming the country’s prime minister for the third time, something barred by the 17th amendment. Mr. Zardari’s side told the Sharif brothers that the Aami National Party (ANP) and Muttahida Qaumi Movement (MQM) were not in favor of repealing the 17th amendment until the federal government met their demands. ANP is asking for renaming the NWFP province as ‘Pakhtoonkhwa’ while MQM is seeking greater autonomy for the federating units.

The two sides in the meeting, however, are reported to have agreed on some main issues. Primarily, they agreed that militancy is the most serious threat to Pakistan and needs to be curbed through combined effort. They also agreed over the urgent need of resolving the problem of Balochistan.