Zardari, Shahbaz hold crunch talks on judges

DUBAI—Talks to discuss reinstatement of deposed judges between Pakistan People’s Party and Pakistan Muslim League-N were concluded here at the residence of PPP Co-chairman Asif Ali Zardari on Monday. The decision is still awaited.
The talks focused the ages of judges and tenure of the chief justice besides passing of resolution with two-thirds majority in the Parliament for reinstatement of judges. From PPP side Advisor to Prime Minister for Interior, Rehman Malik and Federal Minister for Law, Farooq H. Naek are accompanying Asif Ali Zardari while PML-N is being represented by Shahbaz Sharif, Federal Minister for Petroleum, Khwaja Asif Chaudhry, Chaudhry Nisar, Ahmed Ali Khan, Khwaja Haris and other leaders of the party.
It may be mentioned here that Federal Minister for Law, Farooq H. Naek had expressed confidence that the ruling coalition will remain intact and ruled out any possibility of clash with Presidential House. He dispelled the impression that Asif Ali Zardari was against judges’ restoration.
Leader of the House in the Senate on Monday said that the ruling coalition government will not only scrap the controversial 58 (2b) article of the constitution, but also restore judges according to Bhurban Declaration. Speaking in the Senate, Raza Rabbani said that the article 58 (2b), under which the president can dissolve the National Assembly, was a bar in constitution used by dictators to subvert democracy.
“The coalition government is clear that not only the Bhurban Accord will be implemented but also 58 (2b) will also be scrapped,” he said. He said the previous government failed to implement any of the recommendations of senate committee on Balochistan and did not stop military operation in that province.
He said a sub-committee of the committee on Balochistan, headed by Mushahid Hussain recommended to stop land scam in Gwadar and construction of cantonment in Quetta but none of it were implemented. He said the incidents with former Chief Minister Sindh Arbab Ghulam Rahim and former minister Sher Afgan were part of a conspiracy against the government by those who were not ready to accept the February 18 election results.
Rabbani vowed that the government will not let the blood of martyrs of democracy go waste and fulfill the mission for which they laid their lives. He assured that without going into blame game, his government would extend cooperation to the opposition to make democracy strong in the country.
Earlier, leader of the opposition Kamil Ali Agha said that positive attitudes bring positive results and while in opposition they were ready to extend cooperation for policies in the larger national interest.
Talks to discuss reinstatement of deposed judges between Pakistan People’s Party and Pakistan Muslim League-N went underway here at the residence of PPP Co-chairman Asif Ali Zardari on Monday. The talks are said to focus the ages of judges and tenure of the chief justice besides passing of resolution with two-thirds majority in the Parliament for reinstatement of judges.
From PPP side Advisor to Prime Minister for Interior, Rehman Malik and Federal Minister for Law, Farooq H. Naek are accompanying Asif Ali Zardari while PML-N is being represented by Shahbaz Sharif, Federal Minister for Petroleum, Khwaja Asif Chaudhry, Chaudhry Nisar, Ahmed Ali Khan, Khwaja Haris and other leaders of the party. It may be mentioned here that Federal Minister for Law, Farooq H. Naek had expressed confidence that the ruling coalition will remain intact and ruled out any possibility of clash with Presidential House. He dispelled the impression that Asif Ali Zardari was against judges’ restoration.
Minister for Petroleum Khawaja Muhammad Asif Monday said deposed judges of superior judiciary would be restored within the next three days. Talking to a private TV channel he said top most priority of the coalition government was to reinstate the deposed judges as soon as possible in order to end uncertainty in this regard.
He said coalition government of PPP and PML-N would stay for the next five years. After achieving the political stability, economic stability would be ensured in the country he said and added that illegal, and unconstitutional actions taken on Nov 3, 2007 would be done away with.
Meanwhile senior Minister for Communication Chaudhry Nisar Ali Khan said certain elements, wishing to create misunderstandings between PPP and PML-N, would face humiliation as both the ruling parties are committed to serving people for the next five years.
Both the PPP and PML-N are committed to resolving the judges issue in line with Murree Accord. However some difference of opinion are there on modalities and timeframe, he said and added nation is anxiously waiting for the reinstatement of the deposed judges before April 30.

—Agencies