AFP - Prime Minister Yousuf Raza Gilani and opposition leader Nawaz Sharif called for reconciliation to end Pakistan's political crisis but stopped short Sunday of announcing concrete agreements.
  
The thaw in their icy ties came after their first meeting since the supreme court disqualified Sharif from contesting elections, sparking a showdown that pushed the nuclear-armed nation to the brink of chaos.
  
They met as the government reinstated top judge Iftikhar Muhammad Chaudhry, two years after he was sacked under emergency rule, in a significant climbdown bowing to demands from Sharif who whipped up mass protests.
  
"I came to meet Mr. Nawaz Sharif with an olive branch from the government, with a message from President Asif Ali Zardari that the situation demands greater reconciliation because Pakistan faces great challenges," Gilani said.
  
The premier travelled to Sharif's country estate Raiwind in Punjab, the country's most important province which controls 60 percent of the seats in parliament and where Sharif's Pakistan Muslim League-N (PML-N) is dominant.
  
"We want reconciliation. Nawaz Sharif has responded positively and I thank him," Gilani told a joint news conference with the PML-N chairman.
  
The government and Sharif have been at loggerheads ever since the PML-N walked out of the national unity coalition last August over Zardari's refusal to reinstate Chaudhry and enact other key reforms.
  
Their rivalry escalated when the supreme court on February 25 disqualified Sharif and his brother Shahbaz Sharif from contesting elections and holding public office.
  
Under intense Western pressure, the government agreed last week to reinstate Chaudhry and appeal against the court ruling to defuse a mass protest march on Islamabad which had provoked fears of violence.
  
No date has yet been set for the court hearing and neither has a deal been reached on ending Zardari's controversial rule of Punjab -- after the popular Shahbaz Sharif was kicked out of office as chief minister of the province.
  
Gilani said he strongly opposed that arrangement and would try to end it as soon as possible, expressing hope that "when there is reconciliation we can also sit together in government."
  
Sharif praised the government for agreeing to restore Chaudhry and welcomed the message of goodwill from his arch rival Zardari as a "good omen," but attached conditions to reconciliation with his political rivals.
  
He wants a constitutional amendment allowing the president to dismiss the government to be overturned, a move that would significantly reduce Zardari's power.
  
"We want the 17th amendment removed, the Charter of Democracy implemented. We will cooperate with the government," Sharif said.
  
That document, signed in 2006 by Sharif and the late Benazir Bhutto, calls for democracy to be restored, confrontation avoided, and for the military to have no role in politics.