THE meeting between PM's Interior Adviser to Rehman Malik and PML-N Chief Mian Nawaz Sharif did not yield the desired results. While Mr Malik on behalf of President Asif Zardari failed to convince the PML-N leadership to stay away from the Lawyers' movement and not participate in the long march on March 9, Mian Nawaz urged the government to implement the Charter of Democracy and reinstate the judges. This proves that the two main parties have once again failed to find a way out, heating up the country's political temperature. The PML-N, on the one hand, is preparing to garner maximum support for the legal fraternity's call for a sit-in in front of Parliament, the government, on the other, would be gearing up how to make the movement ineffective. Though the PML-N definitely has a point when it cites the government's inaction on the Murree Declaration, the politics of confrontation and its refusal not to budge an inch from its stance is equally counterproductive. The PPP-led government should also rethink its ambiguous approach, that is becoming a source of anxiety. The hope that was raised by the statement of Prime Minister Yousuf Raza Gilani soon after the election that his government would resolve the judicial crisis on a priority basis has now receded, causing dismay all around. In the middle of all this, what President Asif Zardari said on Sunday would hardly help undo the damage. His covert reference to the Sharif brothers for striking a deal with the previous set-up merely to save their skin would increase the trust deficit between them. Under the circumstances, both parties must tread carefully. If anything happens to the democratic system that has been installed after years of General Musharraf's arbitrary rule, the biggest losers will be these parties. Both of them ought to strike a balance and avoid getting carried away by emotions, because the days ahead in the wake of lawyers' call for countrywide protests are highly critical.