PML-N Quaid Mian Nawaz Sharif has announced that all the deposed judges, including Chief Justice Iftikhar Muhammad Chaudhry, will be restored through a resolution in the National Assembly on May 12.
However, the coalition partners would determine their future through a constitutional package, and for this purpose a constitutional committee has been formed, he added. Nawaz was hopeful that the same day a notification containing orders for the restoration of the judges would be issued and they would start functioning the very next day.
The PML-N Quaid made this announcement at a media briefing at his Model Town residence on Friday in the presence of top party leadership. He made this announcement after chairing a joint session of the party’s central working committee and the parliamentary committee meeting. Nawaz said the proposed constitutional package would also be tabled in the assembly a couple of weeks later after consulting all the stakeholders.
Nawaz was of the view that he wanted to resolve the judges’ issue strictly in the light of the Bhurban Declaration but was deeply grieved that he could not get the things done as per the commitment.
Giving details about the constitutional committee of legal experts, he said it comprised five members, including Aitzaz Ahsan, Hafiz Pirzada, Fakhruddin Ibrahim, Khwaja Haris and Raza Rabbani.
He said Law Minister Farooq H Naek would be convener of the committee. Nawaz expressed the hope that the constitutional committee would prepare the package within days to be presented before the National Assembly. He explained that if the constitutional committee faced deadlock on any point, the matter would again be put before the top leadership.
Responding to a query on the fate of those judges who had taken oath under the PCO, Nawaz said the PML-N had strong reservations about the PCO judges. However, he said the PCO judges would also be retained at the request of PPP Co-chairman Asif Ali Zardari.
“We are offering this sacrifice for the achievement of our greater objective,” he added.To another query whether he would recognise the status of President Pervez Musharraf if he admitted their demands regarding restoration of judges and scrapping of constitutional amendment 58-2(b), Nawaz stated even the admittance of these demands would not make his status legal.
He categorically stated that the position of Pervez Musharraf would be illegal till the time he held this office. He was of the view that he could not rule out the possibility of impeaching President Pervez Musharraf on the charge of deposing 60 judges through an illegal and unconstitutional step.
Responding to another query, he said there could not be a stay order against the decisions of the National Assembly. When told that PML-Q parliamentarians, including Faisal Saleh Hayat, Farooq Leghari and Ahmed Yar Hiraj, had met with President Pervez Musharraf on Friday and pledged to protect him, Mian Nawaz Sharif said he had no knowledge of the meeting.
Nawaz also appreciated Asif Zardari and his team as well as his close aides who visited Dubai and made the meeting successful. Earlier, briefing the media about details of his parliamentary meeting Mian Nawaz Sharif said both the political partners wanted to cruise jointly to counter the prevailing problems, including restoring the 1973 Constitution to the position of October 12, 1999, ending on load shedding, bringing down prices of essential commodities and achieving other goals.