Pakistan’s coalition government was mired in disagreement only a day after it forced Pervez Musharraf to resign as president.

Mr Musharraf, a former army chief and key ally of the United States in its campaign against terrorism, resigned as president of nuclear-armed Pakistan on Monday to avoid impeachment charges.

The government’s two main coalition partners have rekindled a row over the reinstatement of judges whom Mr Musharraf sacked last year in order to allow his re-election while still army chief.

Deadlock over the issue has threatened to break the partnership since the government came to power in February and raised concern in Washington as it has distracted from Islamabad’s efforts to tackle militants.

“We have been assigned to reach a consensus on the situation within the next 72 hours,” said Fazal-ur-Rehman, leader of a religious party.

The former prime minister, Nawaz Sharif, and his Pakistan Muslim League-N, had insisted that they all be “restored within 24 hours”.

The ruling Pakistan People’s Party (PPP) had preferred that the judges be restored through an all-encompassing “constitutional package” that would enable it to handpick which judges stayed in office and those to be removed.

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