PPP-PML-N London talks end in deadlock

London, May 11: Talks between key leaders of the Pakistan People's Party (PPP) and the Pakistan Muslim League- Nawaz (PML-N) on the sacked judges' restoration issue being held here have ended in a deadlock. PML-N President Shahbaz Sharif told the Dawn that a legal committee formed to work out the modalities for the implementation of the issue had not reached a consensus. He claimed that now the ball was in the PPP's court, as the PML-N had put its best foot forward on the vexed issue.

PML-N leader Khawaja Asif said there was no further chance of a meeting between PPP Co-chairman Asif Ali Zardari and PML-N chief Nawaz Sharif before the May 12 deadline. Zardari told a private television channel that the reinstatement of the judiciary could not be separated from the constitutional context. PPP sources said that the party had presented a 13-point formula for the reinstatement of the judiciary to the PML-N.

The PML-N's Central Working Committee and its parliamentary party is meeting in Islamabad tomorrow to determine the party's future course of action.

Meanwhile, federal Law Minister Farooq Naek has said that the Supreme Court (SC) Judges' Act can be amended if a consensus on the proposal is reached.

Naek was quoted by Aaj TV as saying on Saturday that the method for the restoration of the over 60 judges' was still being worked out.

Aitzaz Ahsan and Abdul Hafeez Pirzada, had differing opinions, he said. "Aitzaz has given his opinion in writing. We are waiting for Pirzada's opinion."

However, federal Information Minister Sherry Rehman has cautioned against the judges' being restored through an executive order, suggesting that if this step is taken, post-November 3, 2007 judges, who have taken the oath under the Provisional Constitutional Order (PCO), would immediately rule against the restored judges.

ANI