PPP favours not to re-open anti-Mush cases

Islamabad, Apr 4: A Pakistan People's Party (PPP) minister has been meeting some of the deposed judges in Islamabad's Judges Enclave to seek assurances from them that once restored they would not re-open cases against President Pervez Musharraf.

A source said that the minister met some of the deposed judges three days ago and proposed only one condition for their restoration. They would not re-open cases against the man at the top. In his individual meetings with these judges, the source quoted the minister as conveying to each judge that he had met other judges who, he claimed, had agreed to the condition. But later when some of the judges consulted each other at a get-together it was revealed that the minister was just bluffing, the source added.

All this was happening amid reports of concerted efforts to disrupt the historic Murree Declaration. Some PPP stalwarts are said to have become part of this game plan to offset the PPP commitment to restore judges through a resolution in the National Assembly.

The scheme is to block the restoration of deposed Chief Justice Iftikhar Muhammad Chaudhry by resorting to a constitutional package, which, if adopted, would result in the dismissal of all the superior court judges and their reappointment after scrutiny and confirmation by a parliamentary body.

Supreme Court Bar Association president Aitzaz Ahsan has already started warning about such a conspiracy. When contacted, he said the presidential camp had hatched the latest conspiracy. Meanwhile, Musharraf's spokesman Major-General (retired) Rashid Qureshi has denied that the President is behind any such conspiracy. Qureshi said Aitzaz is and has been unfair to the president, about whom he has become paranoid.

ANI