The New Nation - Internet Edition

AFP, Islamabad

Leaders of Pakistan's ruling coalition met on Wednesday to discuss the threat of Islamic militancy and rifts over the restoration of judges sacked by President Pervez Musharraf, officials said.

The meeting is the second since the formation of the government four months ago, after slain former premier Benazir Bhutto's Pakistan People's Party and other groupings defeated Musharraf's allies in elections.

A split between the PPP and ex-prime minister Nawaz Sharif's Pakistan Muslim League-N over the issue of the judges has effectively paralysed the coalition and stopped it tackling a spiralling economic crisis.

Premier Yousuf Raza Gilani chaired the meeting in Islamabad, which was also attended by Bhutto's widower Asif Ali Zardari and Sharif's brother Shahbaz, officials said. Sharif himself was abroad.

Hardline cleric Maulana Fazlur Rehman, chief of the Jamiat Ulema-e-Islam party, and Asfandyar Wali Khan, the head of the secular, ethnic Pashtun Awami National Party (ANP), also attended.

"The government will brief its coalition partners on military operations in tribal areas and the law and order situation in the country and discuss the counterterrorism strategy," a senior government official told AFP.