Pakistani Prime Minister Yousaf Raza Gilani called for a "last minute effort" to save his six-week-old coalition government, after refusing to accept the resignations of ministers from the party of former prime minister Nawaz Sharif.

Sharif on Monday decided to pull out of the cabinet after he failed to break a deadlock with the Asif Ali Zardari, the widower and political successor of slain former prime minister Benazir Bhutto, over how to reinstate the judges sacked by President Pervez Musharraf.

"Let's do a last minute effort so that this issue is somehow resolved," Gilani told Sharif's aides in comments telecast by state-run Pakistan Television. Gilani, who belongs to Zardari's Pakistan People's Party (PPP), has stalled accepting the resignations until Zardari returns to Pakistan.

Zardari was expected to return from Britain later on Tuesday. - Reuters