Syed Saleem Shahzad: Zardari Blinks

This is the final piece of the puzzle behind the Zardari Govt.'s capitulation:

On Sunday evening, many police officers and local administration officials resigned, saying they were not prepared to use force against protesters. These included the deputy attorney general
of Pakistan, the district coordination officer of Lahore, the inspector general of the Punjab police and the deputy inspector general of police in Lahore. This seems to have been the final straw that forced the government to capitulate as it feared it would not be able to contain the many thousands who were to descend on the capital on Monday for a sit-in: whatever little writ of government was left would collapse and nobody, including the army, could afford to intervene.

Earlier Sharif, Aitezaz and Qazi resisted the best pressure to come from the west.

Zardari Govt. has still not issued the Notification, and there are rumours that he is buying time. But if he is thinking of pulling wool over Sharif (and the Nation) a fourth time, he is living in la-la land and should have his head examined.