Gilani says deposed judges will be reinstated

Islamabad: Prime Minister Yousuf Raza Gilani on Tuesday reiterated that the government would reinstate all judges deposed by former president Pervez Musharraf last year.

Gilani renewed the assurance in his first address to the Senate, the upper house of the parliament, since assuming the top office around five months ago.

Of the dozens of deposed judges, eight took fresh oath last week at the Sindh High Court, followed by another four who did so at the Lahore High Court in Punjab. The PPP government has invited all sacked judges to take fresh oath under the constitution.

It discarded an agreement with former premier Nawaz Sharif's PML-N party to restore the judges through a National Assembly resolution and an executive order. This led to PML-N pullout from the federal ruling coalition.

Gilani told the Senate the government remained committed to restoring the judiciary to the position it had before Musharraf's extra-constitutional step of November 3, 2007. Asserting that the PPP had sacrificed for the cause of an independent judiciary, the prime minister said restoration of sacked judges was part of the party's manifesto.

Tourism destroyed

Gilani said the security situation in the tribal areas in the northwest where militants were challenging the writ of the government and the economic down-slide were the biggest challenges confronting the country.

He said tourism in the scenic Swat valley in the north had been destroyed by militants. The prime minister urged the Taliban to lay down their arms and work for the betterment of the country. He asserted that Pakistan was not bound by the dictates of the United States in fighting extremism. "We are bound by what our people want."

He said he was ready to hold an in-camera briefing by the army chief for the members of the parliament on the ground situation in the tribal areas and in Balochistan.