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ISLAMABAD: The PPP may be ready to go down fighting but its coalition partners are urging it to stick to its policy of reconciliation in coping with the current crisis.
At a meeting held before the National Assembly session on Thursday, the allies advised the Pakistan People's Party to avoid confrontation with other state organs.
According to sources, they urged Prime Minister Yousuf Raza Gilani and his advisers to be cautious while framing a resolution that the government plans to table during the session.
Their advice came after an emotional speech by the prime minister in which he spoke at length about his four years in power, his government's relations with other institutions and a sense of siege afflicting his party.
He sought the allies' frank and open suggestions to deal with the Supreme Court judgment on imple-mentation of a verdict against the NRO and to ease tension with the army.
Investigation by a three-member commission into the memo scandal and the court order on the NRO appear to have put extra pressure on the government.
According to the sources, the prime minister spoke his heart out, enumerating all actions he had taken in support of the judiciary and army.
He particularly mentioned his first official order after his election as leader of the house to release judges of the Supreme Court who were under house arrest.
He talked about his government's all-out support to the military over the operation in Swat, Osama bin Laden's killing in Abbottabad and the recent Nato attack on a border post.
He also mentioned parliamentary resolutions the government had brought in support of the army on various occasions.
Feeling hurt by the apex court's remarks in the NRO implementation case, he said: 'If I follow their instructions, I am their darling. Otherwise, they call me a dishonest person.
Three Khosa brothers also drew theprime minister's ire. 'I am the one who promoted all of them, but they appear to have made me their sole target.
Supreme Court Justice Asif Saeed Khosa wrote the NRO judgment, Punjab Chief Secretary Nasir Mehmood Khosa is very close to the Mian brothers and retired FIA chief Tariq Khosa had been appointed to investigate the memo case, but he refused to accept the assignment apparently when the PPP questioned his selection by the court due to his relations with the PML-N leaders.
The prime minister said he was not fighting for his position but for supremacy of parliament and assured the coalition partners that he would remain at their beck and call as long as he was in power.
When asked by the allies about the latest confrontation with army generals, the prime minister put the blame squarely on the sacked defence secretary for creating confusion over the replies which the COAS and ISI chief had been asked to submit before the Supreme Court.
He said it was a part of history now.
Awami National Party's chiefAsfandyar Wali Khan said that unfortunately political governments had never been given real powers in the country's history, but even then 'we cannot afford confrontation with other state organs' He cautioned the government to be very meticulous in framing the resolution and said it shouldn't be institutionor individual-specific.
Farooq Sattar of the Muttahida Qaumi Movement said that although his party fully supported the government, its decision whether to support the resolution would be made public only after seeing the draft.
Chaudhry Wajahat Hussain of the Pakistan Muslim League-Q said his party would swim and sink with the PPP and informed the meeting about his party chief Chaudhry Shujaat Hussain's efforts to defuse the tension.
Talking to reporters after a PML-Q meeting held later, Chaudhry Shujaat said a clash between institutions wasn't good for the country and his party would play its role to improve the situation.
He downplayed PML-N's demand for early elections.
