Pakistan coalition could restore judges this month: party

April 21st, 2008 Sana · No Comments

Source: AFP

ISLAMABAD (AFP) — Pakistan’s new government may reinstate judges sacked by embattled President Pervez Musharraf by the end of this month, a party in the ruling coalition said on Monday.

The comment came as Asif Ali Zardari, the widower of slain opposition leader Benazir Bhutto, met fellow coalition leader and former prime minister Nawaz Sharif to discuss their restoration.

Their two parties defeated Musharraf’s allies in elections in February, and then pledged at a summit in the mountain resort of Bhurban to restore the chief justice and other judges within 30 days of forming a government.

“The coalition leaders are to finalise a draft resolution to implement the Bhurban declaration in true letter and spirit,” Siddiqul Farooq, a spokesman for Sharif’s party told AFP when asked about Monday’s meeting.

He did not disclose when the resolution would be presented to parliament but added: “The judges will be hopefully restored before April 30.”

Musharraf sacked the country’s chief justice and dozens of other judges under a state of emergency in November, when it appeared that the Supreme Court was about to overturn his re-election as president the month before.

The judges could in theory challenge Musharraf’s position, so restoring them with their full powers would spark a major confrontation with the president, a key ally in the US-led “war on terror”.

New prime minister Yousaf Raza Gilani, a key aide of Bhutto, freed chief justice Iftikhar Muhammad Chaudhry from house arrest last month.

Bhutto’s Pakistan People’s Party and Sharif’s Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz party won the most seats in the elections.