Nawaz says govt will move resolution to restore 60 judges, including chief justice
* Notification to be issued on same day
Staff Report
LAHORE: All judges sacked on November 3, 2007 will be reinstated through a parliamentary resolution likely to be tabled on May 12, Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) chief Nawaz Sharif said on Friday.
Addressing a press conference at his Model Town residence, he said the resolution would be followed by an executive order by the prime minister ordering the restoration of all the sacked judges, about 60 in number.
“God willing, all the sacked judges will be restored on May 12,” he said. “The National Assembly will approve a resolution the same day followed by the issuance of notification of the restoration of judges sacked unconstitutionally on November 3,” he said.
The press conference followed a meeting of all senior Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz leaders. Nawaz had arrived in Lahore on Thursday night after two days of negotiations in Dubai with Pakistan People’s Party (PPP) Co-chairman Asif Ali Zardari following an apparent deadlock over how the judges should be restored.
Nawaz said that he had been mandated by Zardari to make the announcement and that the May 12 resolution would be brought about with the PPP’s support.
A six-member committee of constitutional experts would begin to draft the resolution tomorrow, Nawaz said. The committee consists of Supreme Court Bar Association President Aitzaz Ahsan, Leader of the House in Senate Raza Rabbani, Law Minister Farooq H Naek, Fakhruddin G Ibrahim, Hafiz Pirzada and Punjab Advocate General Khawaja Haris.
If there were any deadlock in the committee, the matter would be referred back to the coalition’s leadership, Nawaz said.
Asked what the coalition’s strategy would be if the Supreme Court issued a stay order against the proposed resolution, the PML-N chief said the Supreme Court was not authorised to stop a National Assembly resolution and that President Pervez Musharraf was not in a position to take on the parliament.
He said his party had joined the ruling coalition on the condition that the sacked judges would be restored and had even offered to support the PPP from outside the government if it restored the judges. The PPP had made a commitment to restore the sacked judges in the Murree Declaration, which did not mention any constitutional package, he said. He was referring to a reforms package proposed by the PPP over which the two parties reportedly disagreed.
The judges would be restored through a parliamentary resolution, Nawaz said, and a constitutional package would be introduced later.
Nawaz declined to answer questions about possible clauses of the package, including the fixing of the chief justice’s tenure and extending the age of the retirement of Supreme Court judges. There were rumours that the dispute might threaten the month-old PPP-PML-N coalition.
“We are in strong favour of keeping this coalition for the sake of country and we understand we should keep it at all costs. Its break-up would rejuvenate dictatorship,” Nawaz said.
A self-imposed deadline for passing a resolution in the National Assembly to restore the judges passed on Wednesday.
Nawaz wants the judges brought back as a first step to driving Musharraf out of the presidency, but Zardari is trying to avoid an early confrontation with the president.
Citing unidentified sources ‘familiar with the talks’, Reuters news agency said that the PPP favoured reinstating sacked chief justice Iftikhar Muhammad Chaudhry and then forcing him to retire, while the PML-N is negotiating to allow Chaudhry to stay on until 2010.
‘Judges will be restored on May 12’
Nawaz says govt will move resolution to restore 60 judges, including chief justice
* Notification to be issued on same day
Staff Report
LAHORE: All judges sacked on November 3, 2007 will be reinstated through a parliamentary resolution likely to be tabled on May 12, Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) chief Nawaz Sharif said on Friday.
Addressing a press conference at his Model Town residence, he said the resolution would be followed by an executive order by the prime minister ordering the restoration of all the sacked judges, about 60 in number.
“God willing, all the sacked judges will be restored on May 12,” he said. “The National Assembly will approve a resolution the same day followed by the issuance of notification of the restoration of judges sacked unconstitutionally on November 3,” he said.
The press conference followed a meeting of all senior Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz leaders. Nawaz had arrived in Lahore on Thursday night after two days of negotiations in Dubai with Pakistan People’s Party (PPP) Co-chairman Asif Ali Zardari following an apparent deadlock over how the judges should be restored.
Nawaz said that he had been mandated by Zardari to make the announcement and that the May 12 resolution would be brought about with the PPP’s support.
A six-member committee of constitutional experts would begin to draft the resolution tomorrow, Nawaz said. The committee consists of Supreme Court Bar Association President Aitzaz Ahsan, Leader of the House in Senate Raza Rabbani, Law Minister Farooq H Naek, Fakhruddin G Ibrahim, Hafiz Pirzada and Punjab Advocate General Khawaja Haris.
If there were any deadlock in the committee, the matter would be referred back to the coalition’s leadership, Nawaz said.
Asked what the coalition’s strategy would be if the Supreme Court issued a stay order against the proposed resolution, the PML-N chief said the Supreme Court was not authorised to stop a National Assembly resolution and that President Pervez Musharraf was not in a position to take on the parliament.
He said his party had joined the ruling coalition on the condition that the sacked judges would be restored and had even offered to support the PPP from outside the government if it restored the judges. The PPP had made a commitment to restore the sacked judges in the Murree Declaration, which did not mention any constitutional package, he said. He was referring to a reforms package proposed by the PPP over which the two parties reportedly disagreed.
The judges would be restored through a parliamentary resolution, Nawaz said, and a constitutional package would be introduced later.
Nawaz declined to answer questions about possible clauses of the package, including the fixing of the chief justice’s tenure and extending the age of the retirement of Supreme Court judges. There were rumours that the dispute might threaten the month-old PPP-PML-N coalition.
“We are in strong favour of keeping this coalition for the sake of country and we understand we should keep it at all costs. Its break-up would rejuvenate dictatorship,” Nawaz said.
A self-imposed deadline for passing a resolution in the National Assembly to restore the judges passed on Wednesday.
Nawaz wants the judges brought back as a first step to driving Musharraf out of the presidency, but Zardari is trying to avoid an early confrontation with the president.
Citing unidentified sources ‘familiar with the talks’, Reuters news agency said that the PPP favoured reinstating sacked chief justice Iftikhar Muhammad Chaudhry and then forcing him to retire, while the PML-N is negotiating to allow Chaudhry to stay on until 2010.
