World | Pakistan
Musharraf consults legal aides
President Pervez Musharraf has started consulting legal experts on ways to counter the grave challenge presented by the two major parties' decision to reinstate sacked judges of the Supreme Court through a parliamentary resolution .
- By Shahid Hussain, Correspondent
- Published: 00:41 March 11, 2008
Islamabad: President Pervez Musharraf has started consulting legal experts on ways to counter the grave challenge presented by the two major parties' decision to reinstate sacked judges of the Supreme Court through a parliamentary resolution .
Official sources said Musharraf held a lengthy meeting on Monday at his camp office in Rawalpindi with eminent lawyer Sharifuddin Pirzada and Attorney General Malik Mohammad Qayyum among others.
In a joint declaration on Monday, Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP) leader Asif Ali Zardari and the Pakistan Muslim League-N (PML-N) announced their landmark agreement to form a coalition government.
The two parties also pledged to restore around 60 deposed judges, including former chief justice Iftikhar Mohammad Chaudhry, through a resolution to be passed by the new National Assembly within 30 days of formation of the government.
The sources said the consultations at the president's camp office also dwelt on the prospect of calling the inaugural sessions of the National Assembly and the four provincial assemblies.
Convening of assemblies
Caretaker Prime Minister Mohammadmian Soomoro yesterday sent a summary advising Musharraf to convene the assemblies.
Musharraf said last week he would summon the assemblies within 10 days of receiving the summary, while both the PPP and the PML-N, as also some other parties, are demanding this be done without any delay.
The decision about the sacked judges, though widely hailed by the legal community, as also broad sections of political and civil society, has touched off a controversy.
Attorney General Qayyum, echoing the view in the government camp, told reporters the deposed judges could only be reinstated by amending the Constitution with a two-thirds vote and not through a resolution. He asserted that all acts taken under the purview of the November 3 imposition of emergency, including the sacking of the judges, were protected under a new constitutional provision and had been validated by the post-purge Supreme Court.
The government's view has been rejected by political opponents and prominent lawyers, including the Supreme Court Bar Association president Aitzaz Ahsan.
Whatever Musharraf did on November 3 in his capacity as army chief was illegal and unconstitutional and there was no need for a constitutional amendment to reverse the same, critics have argued.
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