Zardari, Sharif set for London talks

Islamabad: Top leaders of the ruling federal coalition headed by Pakistan Peoples Party co-chairman (PPP) Asif Ali Zardari and Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) chief Nawaz Sharif are expected to meet in London soon to thrash out modalities for the reinstatement of judges deposed by President Pervez Musharraf.

The new impetus for the negotiations comes after a committee tasked with charting a course of action submitted its recommendations overnight following three meetings in five days. Earlier the two parties had held crucial talks in Dubai.

Law Minister Farooq H. Naek, who was also convener of the committee, told the media around midnight on Wednesday that the text of a draft parliamentary resolution for the restoration of the judges had been finalised. But, he said the two constitutional experts on the committee, Abdul Hafeez Pirzada and Chaudhry Aitzaz Ahsan, held "divergent views" on how a resolution could be brought about.

"That is why a final decision on the text of the resolution and the mode of implementing it has been left to the party heads," he said.

Zardari leaves

Naek declined to divulge the clash of views between the two experts, but Pirzada has frequently advocated a constitutional package instead of a resolution and executive order, which Supreme Court bar association president Ahsan insists is the right way to reinstate the sacked judges.

Zardari left yesterday for London while Sharif is already in the British capital where his wife is receiving medical treatment.

PPP sources said Zardari would meet Sharif as well as Muttahida Qaumi Movement (MQM) leader Altaf Hussain, whose party has aligned with the PPP in Sindh province under a power-sharing pact.

The latest attempt to find a mutually agreeable solution to the judges' issue comes days ahead of the May 12 deadline announced by Sharif last Friday after the two leaders returned from Dubai resolving to implement the joint pledge to reinstate the judges. In a public declaration on March 9, both leaders had pledged to reinstate the judges within 30 days of formation of the new government. That deadline has since fallen by the wayside.

Meanwhile, bar associations across the country yesterday held meetings and rallies attended by hundreds of lawyers in different cities as part of their ongoing campaign for the judiciary to be restored to its pre-emergency status.

Leaders of the lawyer community have warned of a street agitation if the judges are not reinstated by the new deadline.

The Pakistan Bar Council said a convention of lawyers would be held in Lahore from May 16-17 to draw up a strategy to push for the demand.

Addressing the rally in Lahore, PML-N leader Javed Hashmi warned that if the "unconstitutional and illegal" action taken by Musharraf on November 3 in his capacity as then army chief was not reversed, the present parliament would be rendered irrelevant and fail in its mandate.

Hashmi sounds warning

Hashmi said there would no justification for the PML-N to remain part of the ruling coalition if the sacked judges, including former chief justice Iftikhar Mohammad Chaudhry, were not reinstated by the new deadline.

"If the voice of the lawyer community and civil society is ignored, this parliament will not last even for five days, what to speak of completion of its five-year term," the fiery PML-N luminary said.

Political will

Speaking to the media in London on Wednesday, Sharif said political will was needed to right a wrong committed by Musharraf and urged the government to stop fretting about finding constitutional ways for the judges' return.

The PML-N has agreed to retain judges installed by Musharraf under a provisional constitution order (PCO) in a bid to speed up a decision on the restoration of the deposed judges. The lawyer community, however, has rejected the concession, saying it will not accept continuation of PCO judges hand-picked by Musharraf.