Fazl supports Zardari's idea of fixing CJ tenure to 3 years

Islamabad, May 5 : Jamiat-e-Ulema Islam (JUI) chief Maulana Fazlur Rehman has given his support to PPP Co-Chairman Asif Ali Zardari in fixing the country's Chief Justice's tenure meant to block the reinstatement of Justice Iftikhar Muhammad Chaudhry.

The three-year term will mean the retirement of chief justice Iftikhar Muhammad Chaudhry in June this year, as the PML-N and the lawyers' community, besides a large number of people, are strongly opposing such a move.

The two leaders met in Islamabad last evening.

"Fazl surprised him by saying that his party would support the PPP-led coalition in restricting the CJ's term to three years," sources privy to their meeting said.

"There is no harm in case the tenure of the chief justice of the Supreme Court is fixed to three years," Fazlur Rehman reportedly told telling Zardari during the meeting.

"The JUI-F chief told Zardari that his party would support the PPP in the amendments to be brought about but the basic formula should be that all the PCO-judges are either restored or all are sacked with supremacy of parliament in bringing the constitutional amendments," The News quoted the sources as saying.

The JUI chief also asked Zardari that there was no need to fix a deadline for the reinstatement of the judges as the process of constitutional and legal requirements needed serious consultations.

ANI