Pakistan Muslim League (PML-N) leader Khwaja Muhammad Asif said on Saturday that the 30-day countdown for the restoration of the judiciary would start from the day the federal cabinet would take oath of office, and the resolution in this regard would be tabled within eight to ten days of the start of the countdown.
The federal cabinet would hopefully take oath on Monday.
PPP leader Mian Raza Rabbani said draft of the resolution will be finalised by the new law minister.
“The new law minister will present the resolution in the House, besides finalising all modalities in this regard,” Rabbani added.
“The judges will become functional right after the passage of the resolution from the National Assembly,” Khwaja Asif.
Khwaja Asif said according to the understanding of the coalition the countdown will start from the day on which the federal cabinet will take oath of office.
According to his calculation, the time period for the restoration of the pre-Nov 3 judiciary as agreed in the Murree Declaration will start from March 31.
The Judges of the superior courts will be facilitated to return to their offices, Khwaja said.
Khwaja Asif also said there was no problem or differences in the coalition regarding the draft of the resolution on judges restoration.
However, Rabbani’s revelation was a bit confusing, as the PPP nominee for the slot of law minister is Senator Farooq H Naek, who himself is not clear about restoration of the pre-Nov 3 judiciary through a parliamentary resolution.
Naek, after the Murree Declaration, has publicly said on more than one occasion that restoration of the judiciary would be difficult without a two-thirds majority.
Another PPP leader Syed Khurshid Shah told The News that the issue of the judiciary was resolved after the Murree Declaration. He said there were no differences in this regard now.
“All judges of the pre-Nov 3 judiciary, including Chief Justice Iftikhar Muhammad Chaudhry, will be restored in accordance with the spirit of the Murree Declaration.”
PML-N MNA Ayaz Amir said Justice (retd) Fakhruddin G Ibrahim has prepared the draft of the proposed resolution.