Presidency denies parleys on deposed judges
By Saad Saud

ISLAMABAD—The Presidential spokesman Major General (retd) Raashid Qureshi on Thursday dismissed reports about talks between the political parties and the President House regarding reinstatement of deposed judges.
In an interview, he said these reports are totally baseless and unfounded. To a question about relationship between the new government and the President, the spokesman said that President Musharraf has stated time in again that he is ready to work smoothly with the elected government for the betterment of the country.
Earlier, it was reported that Awan-e-Sadar has agreed with Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP) and Pakistan Muslim League (N) over their stand of reinstatement of the deposed judges.
President Pervez Musharraf has offered to give up his powers to dissolve parliament if key opposition parties agree to drop their insistence on the re-instatement of Iftikhar Mohammad Chaudhry, the former supreme court chief justice, the Financial Times has learnt. The offer marks the most significant concession by Pakistan’s pro-US ruler since his party was comprehensively defeated in last month’s parliamentary elections.
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Details of Mr Musharraf’s offer were revealed to the FT by key members of the Pakistan People’s party (PPP) of the late former prime minister, Benazir Bhutto, and the Pakistan Muslim League – Nawaz (PML-N). The PPP and PML-N, which together form a majority in the 342-seat national assembly, agreed in the last week to restore to their posts all the judges – included Mr Chaudhry – dismissed by Mr Musharraf within hours of his imposing emergency rule in November.
Mr Musharraf sacked Mr Chaudhry just before he was due to rule on a challenge to Mr Musharraf’s decision in October to contest the presidential election while still serving as army chief. Mr Musharraf stepped down as head of the military in November.
Constitutional experts say Mr Musharraf’s presidential contest was in violation of a law that requires all civil servants, including the army chief, to wait two years before running for political office. “The danger for the president is that Iftikhar Chaudhry’s return as chief justice [would] immediately see him return to the cases against Musharraf. It is possible that the presidential election may be declared null and void,” said a senior opposition leader who is also a member of the newly elected parliament.