The US has refused to be drawn into the latest uncertainty in Pakistan following Nawaz Sharif's decision to pull out PML-N ministers from the government and said political parties in the country will have to address the issues pertaining to coalition politics.
"We neither want to nor can answer these questions for the Pakistani political leaders and their political system. They are going to have to address it," State Department Spokesman Sean McCormack said reacting to Nawaz Sharif's decision to pull out PML-N ministers from the government.
He said the US was convinced that the government in Islamabad will continue to function.
"My understanding is that the government will continue to function at this point," he said.
Deepening the rift with main coalition partner PPP and raising the spectre of fresh political uncertainty in Pakistan, PML-N chief Nawaz Sharif announced that his party will pull out of the Cabinet following the deadlock over reinstatement of judges sacked by President Pervez Musharraf.
Sharif, a former prime minister and PML-N leader, however said the party would still support the six-week-old coalition government on an "issue by issue basis" despite clear disagreement with PPP over restoration of the 60 judges deposed by President Pervez Musharraf.
"Look, how the Pakistanis arrange themselves politically, what who's in the coalition, who's not, what the platform is, questions about judges, these are all things for the Pakistanis to answer," McCormack said.
"I will leave it to the parties to describe exactly what the government can do and can't do with the support of... Mr. Sharif's party," he said.
McCormack said the US would continue to work with Islamabad on issues that are of mutual concern.
"We are convinced that we are able to work with this government on fighting terror, working with them to help build a different kind of and a better kind of Pakistan with greater freedoms and greater prosperity.
"So we're going to continue working with them. How they arrange themselves politically, the platform of the government, those are going to be decisions for the Pakistani Government to make," the senior State Department official maintained.
Sharif, 58, who was deposed as premier in a military coup by Musharraf in 1999, said his party would "nor rest" till the judges were restored and Musharraf removed from his post.
Sharif's party has nine ministers in the 24-member Cabinet, which was sworn in on March 31.
PML-N's nine ministers would meet Prime Minister Yousuf Raza Gilani on Tuesday and hand in their resignations, Sharif told newsmen after a marathon meeting of party leaders in Islamabad.
