Islamabad  -  Leaders of Pakistan's ruling coalition met Thursday in Dubai after failing to meet their self-imposed deadline for the reinstatement of judges sacked by President Pervez Musharraf.

The talks were a continuation of Wednesday's seven-hour marathon between former premier Nawaz Sharif, head of the Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N), and Asif Zardari, who succeeded slain former premier Benazir Bhutto as the chief of her Pakistan People's Party (PPP).

The negotiations ended yesterday with some progress but also "differences of opinion on some legal and constitutional matters," said Chaudhry Nisar Ali Khan, a close Sharif aide.

The PML-N and PPP formed an alliance after routing Musharraf's political supporters in the February 18 parliamentary election and pledged to reinstate the judges by the end of April.

More than 60 senior judges, including chief justice Iftikhar Chaudhry, were sacked by Musharraf under an emergency order on November 3 as the Supreme Court was expected to rule against his re-election for another five-year term.

However, the coalition partners hit a deadlock over the mode of the justices' restoration, which the PML-N said needs only a simple resolution by the parliament while the PPP viewed it as a complex issue demanding a constitutional reform package.

Sharif rushed to Dubai Monday when the lieutenants of the PML-N reached a dead end in discussions with the PPP team, led by Zardari, who was already in the Gulf state to meet his two daughters.

The stalemate has fanned rumours that the month-old alliance is on the verge of falling apart, which would send the country into a political crisis.

Cracks appeared when the PPP, which won the most seats in the 342-member lower house of Parliament came up with its package, which reportedly puts limits on Chaudhry's powers.

Some analysts opined that the PPP was insisting on the reforms because Chaudhry, once restored, could prove a stumbling block because he earlier admitted legal petitions against unconditional amnesty given to politicians by Musharraf, which has benefited Zardari, who was facing several graft charges.

Sharif's PML-N had threatened to quit the cabinet if any compromise was made on the judges' reinstatement, the main rallying point for the party, whose government was ousted by Musharraf in a bloodless military coup in 1999.

Although optimistic about a resolution, Sharif said in case of an irreconcilable disagreement, the decision to stay in the governing coalition would be taken by the top committees of his party. (dpa)