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Zardari, Nawaz to meet in London to discuss judges' issue
LAST UPDATE: Friday, 9 May 2008 - 12:11:15 AM
ISLAMABAD: Top leaders of Pakistan's ruling coalition, including PPP chairman Asif Ali Zardari and PML-N chief Nawaz Sharif, are meeting in London yesterday to discuss a draft parliamentary resolution for reinstating judges sacked last year by President Pervez Musharraf.
The draft resolution was framed late Wednesday night by a committee of legal experts formed by the ruling Pakistan People's Party and its main ally PML-N.
Law Minister Farooq Naek, the convenor of the committee, said the panel had reached an agreement on the draft though it would be given final approval by top leaders of the coalition.
Naek, however, acknowledged there was discord within the committee on the modalities for restoring the deposed judges. PPP leader Aitzaz Ahsan and Abdul Hafeez Pirzada, both members of the committee, had "different points of view" on the draft, he said.
The top leaders of the coalition had earlier held inconclusive talks in Dubai last week to resolve the issue.
Zardari left for London yesterday with senior PPP leader Rehman Malik while top PML-N leaders Shahbaz Sharif and Khwaja Asif are already there to assist Sharif in the talks on the draft resolution. Sharif is in London with his wife Kulsoom Nawaz, who underwent surgery in the British capital.
Sharif has said the deposed judges will be reinstated on May 12 after the National Assembly or lower house of parliament passes a resolution for their restoration. However, Zardari has not committed himself to this deadline.
The influential lawyers' movement is opposed to retaining the judges who were sworn in during last year's emergency after Musharraf sacked 60 members of the superior judiciary, including former Supreme Court Chief Justice Iftikhar Muhammad Chaudhry.
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