Law minister urges PML-N to shun unrest

Islamabad: A key minister in the Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP) government on Friday urged coalition partner, the Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N), to abstain from participating in the lawyer community's planned long march for the reinstatement of deposed judges.

Law Minister Farooq H. Naek, author of a package of 80 proposed amendments to the constitution that the PPP plans to table in parliament, told a private channel that the government could only request the PML-N not to take part in the agitation.

"We can only make a request; we cannot force them," Naek said, while hoping that the judges' restoration would come about through one of the amendments.

He stressed that the package was not a final document and that it was open to changes in the light of suggestions and recommendations by coalition partners and others.