PPP chairman Asif Ali Zardari will hold a crucial meeting this week with his ally PML-N chief Nawaz Sharif that could decide the future of Pakistan's ruling coalition, which is under strain over its failure to reinstate judges deposed by President Pervez Musharraf.

Zardari and Sharif will meet here on August 5 against the backdrop of serious concerns expressed by PML-N leaders about the future of the nearly five-month-old alliance.

Reports have also suggested that the Pakistan People's Party has initiated back channel contacts with the opposition PML-Q on forming an alliance in case the PML-N pulls out of the coalition.

Senior PML-N leader Khwaja Asif, a close aide of Sharif, told reporters yesterday that his party was "finding it difficult" to stay in the coalition. However, he also acknowledged that quitting the alliance could make matters worse.

Asif described the coalition's status as "grim" and said there is a limit on how long the PML-N could put up with the current state of affairs. Pakistan is facing a threat of Talibanisation and the PPP is "aggravating matters" by denying the deposed judges their due role, he said.

Reports have also suggested that the Pakistan People's Party has initiated back channel contacts with the opposition PML-Q on forming an alliance in case the PML-N pulls out of the coalition.

Senior PML-N leader Khwaja Asif, a close aide of Sharif, told reporters yesterday that his party was "finding it difficult" to stay in the coalition. However, he also acknowledged that quitting the alliance could make matters worse.

Asif described the coalition's status as "grim" and said there is a limit on how long the PML-N could put up with the current state of affairs. Pakistan is facing a threat of Talibanisation and the PPP is "aggravating matters" by denying the deposed judges their due role, he said.

It was unfortunate that the PML-N was caught between a rock and a hard place on the issue of solidarity of the coalition and fighting the militancy that is threatening Pakistan, Asif said.

Meanwhile, the PML-N has convened a joint meeting of its central working committee and parliamentary party in Lahore tomorrow to discuss the prevailing political situation and the party's future line of action. The meeting will be chaired by Sharif.