Sharif says ousted Pakistan Judges will return with 'dignity'
PAKISTAN: Judges purged by Pervez Musharraf to protect his disputed
presidency will return to their posts "with dignity, respect and honor,"
a leader of Pakistan's new government said Friday.
Former Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif's forecast followed two days of
talks aimed at settling differences within the ruling coalition over how
to bring back the judges.
The issue is critical to the survival of Pakistan's month-old
civilian government, which has begun to ease the U.S.-backed president's
military confrontation with militants. It could also determine
Musharraf's ability to cling to his already diminished powers more than
eight years after he ousted Sharif's government in a military coup.
Leaders of the two biggest parties in the coalition emerged from
marathon negotiations in the Persian Gulf state of Dubai late Thursday.
Both sides insisted they had made progress on the judges issue and that
the coalition would survive.
However, they announced no final accord and said Sharif would only
disclose details of their discussions after a party meeting in his home
city of Lahore on Friday. "We have decided to restore the judges"
through a resolution in Parliament, Sharif told reporters on his arrival
early Friday at Lahore airport.
The justices will "go back to the courts with dignity, respect and
honor," he said. Musharraf ousted some 60 senior judges - including
Supreme Court Chief Justice Iftikhar Mohammed Chaudhry - when he imposed
a state of emergency in November to stop legal challenges to his
re-election as president.
But the crackdown only deepened his unpopularity, and his allies were
routed in February parliamentary elections which propelled his opponents
to power.
Sharif has pushed particularly hard for the reinstatement of the
judges, stirring speculation that he sees them as an ally in a drive to
oust Musharraf completely. But the party of assassinated ex-leader
Benazir Bhutto, which leads the government, has sought to link their
return to broader reforms that could crimp Chaudhry's tenure and powers.
Lahore, Friday, AP |
