Pak parties near agreement on judges

Meanwhile, PTI reported that top leaders of Pakistan’s ruling coalition, including PPP chairman Asif Ali Zardari and PML-N chief Nawaz Sharif, were meeting in London on Thursday to discuss a draft parliamentary resolution for reinstating the judges.

Zardari left for London with senior PPP leader Rehman Malik while top PML-N leaders Shahbaz Sharif and Khwaja Asif are already there to assist Sharif in the talks on the draft resolution. Sharif is in London with his wife Kulsoom Nawaz, who underwent surgery in the British capital.

Sharif has said the deposed judges will be reinstated on May 12 after the National Assembly or lower house of Parliament passes a resolution for their restoration. However, Zardari has not committed himself to this deadline.

Key differences remain between the two parties.

Two constitutional experts on the committee had a “divergence of views” on how the resolution could be implemented if approved by the country’s parliament, said Naek, who nonetheless described the draft agreement as “very big good news.”

The law minister did not give details about the draft. He said the two parties’ leaders — Zardari and Sharif — need to approve it before it heads to the parliament.

The party leaders will also be informed about the conflicting views on the resolution’s implementation, Naek said.

Musharraf fired dozens of judges, including then-Chief Justice Iftikhar Mohammed Chaudhry, in November upon declaring a state of emergency. The U.S.-backed president ousted the judges as the Supreme Court was about to rule on whether he was eligible for another term as head of state.

Opponents of Musharraf swept general elections in February and formed a coalition whose leaders have made revising Pakistan’s role in the U.S.-led war on terror and restoring the judges top priorities.

Bringing back the judges could threaten Musharraf’s already diminished grip on power if the courts revisit the issue of the retired army general’s eligibility for office. But complex political and legal disputes – including what to do with the judges Musharraf installed after the purge — have prevented the parties from meeting a self-imposed April 30 deadline.