Meeting this week to forge accord on deposed judges

Islamabad: Leaders of the new federal coalition will meet this week to settle differences over the restoration of Supreme Court judges dismissed by President Pervez Musharraf.

The restoration of judges Musharraf sacked after he imposed emergency rule in November was a major element of the coalition pact between the Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP) and the Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) after they routed Musharraf's allies in the February 18 elections.

Eluding consensus

However, the agreement notwithstanding, the two main coalition parties have failed to find consensus on the issue.

Sharif, the prime minister Musharraf overthrew in a 1999 coup, made the restoration of the judges the main plank of his election campaign and is pushing hard for their reinstatement.

If reinstated, the judges are expected to take up challenges to Musharraf's rule that could end up with the president losing office.

The PPP has been less insistent about the restoration of the judges. Analysts say the party's hesitation could stem from the fear that the judges could take up a petition challenging an amnesty Musharraf introduced in October that cleared graft cases against Benazir Bhutto and Asif Ali Zardari among others.

Officials of both parties said Zardari was expected to meet Sharif in Islamabad to resolve the issue.

Petroleum and Natural Resources Minister Khawaja Mohammad Asif, also a senior member of Sharif's party, told a news conference: "The leaders are meeting this week and I am confident that the judicial crisis will finally be resolved in a week or 10 days in line with the Murree accord."

Under the agreement, Zardari pledged to restore the dismissed judges, including former chief justice Iftikhar Chaudhry, within 30 days of forming the government. The 30 days run out at the end of April.

Different approaches

Some PPP leaders said they were drafting a constitutional package, including judicial reforms that could apparently reduce the chief justice's tenure or scale back his powers.

Analysts say the PPP plan to link the restoration of the judges to the constitutional package would also mean it would miss the 30-day deadline, which Sharif's party is unwilling to do.

"They think one can go along with Pervez Musharraf to a certain extent but we think we can't work with him at all," said Asif, referring to the PPP. "These are two approaches, (but) I don't think it will have any impact on the working of the coalition."