A section of media seems to have gone overboard in describing the government's decision to file a review petition in the Supreme Court against the disqualification of Sharif brothers as a breakthrough to end the deadlock triggered by the removal of the PML(N)'s Punjab government. The announcement by President's spokesman Farhatullah Baber, coming after a flurry of meetings between President Asif Zardari, COAS Gen Ashfaq Parvez Kayani and Prime Minister Yousaf Raza Gilani, coupled with increasing pressure from Islamabad's Western backers, was perceived to be an attempt at scuttling the long march Mian Nawaz was to lead from Lahore on Sunday. The nervousness in the government camp became more visible from the conflicting stances of some Cabinet members. It was moments after Raja Pervez Ashraf termed the lawyers' long march and sit-in the latest conspiracy to destabilize the country that his colleague Khurshid Shah made an appeal to the opposition to come forward and make this Parliament strong by implementing the Charter of Democracy. The pressures by the Army and the American administration might have compelled Mr Zardari to accept a face-saving retreat from his obstinate stance. But what remains difficult to understand is the government's insistence that it would resolve the issue pertaining to the reinstatement of Chief Justice Iftikhar Muhammad Chaudhry and other deposed judges in accordance with the Charter. Kashmir Affairs Minister Qamaruzzaman Kaira, given the additional charge of the Information portfolio at this crucial time, did a lot of explaining, but despite being fairly articulate he failed to substantiate that this document signed by Mian Nawaz and Ms Benazir Bhutto more than a year and a half before the promulgation of Emergency and sacking of superior court judges on 3 November 2007 provided any solution for the reinstatement of the deposed judges. Mr Kaira would be well advised to convince his leadership to honour the commitment it had made in the Murree Declaration and in its two subsequent agreements signed in August 2008. The government should not ignore that the concessions it has lately offered to the opposition at a time when the administrative efforts to contain the long march on the federal capital have virtually failed, and are being viewed as too little, too late. The Sharif brothers are in no mood to get carried away by the move to get their disqualification verdict reversed through a review petition. Mr Zardari needs to move really fast to undo the damage his recalcitrance has done to democracy. Time is of the essence.