ISLAMABAD, Pakistan (AP) — Pakistan's new government has paid the salaries of the Supreme Court justices ousted by President Pervez Musharraf last year, a move the governing coalition says highlights its commitment to reinstating the judges, officials said Tuesday.
Restoring the judges to the bench, a key demand of protesting lawyers, could endanger Musharraf's presidency. The stalwart U.S. ally ousted them in November before they could rule on the legality of his re-election a month earlier.
Athar Minallah, a close aide to ousted Chief Justice Iftikhar Mohammed Chaudhry, said Tuesday the judges had received their salaries, which proved they retained their positions.
"They are judges, legitimate judges, who were illegally and unconstitutionally removed," Minallah told Dawn News TV.
Minallah urged the government to restore the judges and to prosecute Musharraf for his actions against them.
Musharraf accused Chaudhry of corruption and of conspiring against efforts to guide Pakistan back to democracy after eight years of military rule.
The move deepened Musharraf's unpopularity and helped his opponents triumph in February parliamentary elections.
However, they have failed to meet a pledge to quickly restore the judges amid stubborn differences over how to do it.
Asif Ali Zardari, who leads the main ruling party, has sought to link the return of the judges to constitutional reforms that could take months to pass.
Prime Minister Yousuf Raza Gilani, who is from Zardari's party, vowed Tuesday that the judges would be restored through a decision by Parliament. However, he did not specify a time frame.
"The judges would be restored and that would be according to the constitution of Pakistan and we will have the mandate of the Parliament," Gilani said at a seminar in Islamabad.
Former Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif, head of the second largest party in the ruling coalition, argues that the government could immediately restore the judges and has pulled his ministers from the Cabinet in protest.
Sharif's party joined the lawyers movement for a huge rally last week in the capital. Gilani said his government had also backed the lawyers' rally in Islamabad.
A senior Sharif aide welcomed the payment of the judges' salaries and said his party was "hopeful" that Zardari's party would resolve the issue.
"For the time being we are giving them time," Chaudhry Nisar Ali Khan said.
Pakistan government pays salaries to ousted judges
ISLAMABAD, Pakistan (AP) — Pakistan's new government has paid the salaries of the Supreme Court justices ousted by President Pervez Musharraf last year, a move the governing coalition says highlights its commitment to reinstating the judges, officials said Tuesday.
Restoring the judges to the bench, a key demand of protesting lawyers, could endanger Musharraf's presidency. The stalwart U.S. ally ousted them in November before they could rule on the legality of his re-election a month earlier.
Athar Minallah, a close aide to ousted Chief Justice Iftikhar Mohammed Chaudhry, said Tuesday the judges had received their salaries, which proved they retained their positions.
"They are judges, legitimate judges, who were illegally and unconstitutionally removed," Minallah told Dawn News TV.
Minallah urged the government to restore the judges and to prosecute Musharraf for his actions against them.
Musharraf accused Chaudhry of corruption and of conspiring against efforts to guide Pakistan back to democracy after eight years of military rule.
The move deepened Musharraf's unpopularity and helped his opponents triumph in February parliamentary elections.
However, they have failed to meet a pledge to quickly restore the judges amid stubborn differences over how to do it.
Asif Ali Zardari, who leads the main ruling party, has sought to link the return of the judges to constitutional reforms that could take months to pass.
Prime Minister Yousuf Raza Gilani, who is from Zardari's party, vowed Tuesday that the judges would be restored through a decision by Parliament. However, he did not specify a time frame.
"The judges would be restored and that would be according to the constitution of Pakistan and we will have the mandate of the Parliament," Gilani said at a seminar in Islamabad.
Former Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif, head of the second largest party in the ruling coalition, argues that the government could immediately restore the judges and has pulled his ministers from the Cabinet in protest.
Sharif's party joined the lawyers movement for a huge rally last week in the capital. Gilani said his government had also backed the lawyers' rally in Islamabad.
A senior Sharif aide welcomed the payment of the judges' salaries and said his party was "hopeful" that Zardari's party would resolve the issue.
"For the time being we are giving them time," Chaudhry Nisar Ali Khan said.
