Zardari, Nawaz meet to restore sacked judges

Islamabad, Apr 14: PPP Co-chairman Asif Ali Zardari and PML-N leader Nawaz Sharif will meet tomorrow to devise a final formula for the restoration of the sacked Supreme Court judges.

Announcing this last evening, Pakistan's Law and Justice Minister Farooq Naek said that the formula would determine the final mode in which to restore the sacked judges. He denied that there were any differences between the PPP and the PML-N on the issue, and reiterated the government's commitment to resolving the judges' issue in line with the Murree Declaration the two parties signed on March 9.

Prime Minister Yousaf Raza Gillani had also made assurances in the National Assembly that the Murree Declaration would be honoured at all costs, he added.

"The only thing that is to be decided now is whether a cabinet committee or a parliamentary committee will prepare recommendations on the issue," the Daily Times quoted the minister as saying.

He said that the federal cabinet had decided in its first meeting that a cabinet committee would be formed to submit recommendations on the issue in parliament, and that a draft prepared by the cabinet committee and reviewed by the parliamentary committee would be proposed in parliament.

The formula will seek to restore deposed Chief Justice Iftikhar Muhammad Chaudhry and his fellow judges, but also protect the decisions of the post-November 3 Provisional Constitution Order Supreme Court so that the restored judges cannot destabilise the polity.

"This package will help redeem the pledge of both PML-N and PPP without enabling the restored judges to overthrow President Musharraf by overtly political judgments and will therefore have the approval of the president and his supporters," said an insider privy to these developments.

ANI