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Sharif firm on restoring judges

Nirupama Subramanian

Efforts on to form coalition governments at the Centre and in the NWFP

— PHOTOS: AFP

COALITION BID: Pakistan People’s Party leader Asif Ali Zardari (left) with Awami National Party chief Asfandyar Wali Khan at a press conference in Islamabad on Thursday. Earlier, they held discussions on government formation at the Centre and in the North West Frontier Province, where the ANP emerged as the single largest party. At right, Pakistan Muslim League (N) leader Nawaz Sharif at a party meet in Islamabad.

ISLAMABAD: Hours before he was to meet Pakistan Peoples’ Party leader Asif Ali Zardari for talks on government formation on Thursday, Pakistan Muslim League (N) leader Nawaz Sharif sent out a clear signal that his first priority was the reinstatement of ousted Chief Justice Iftihkar Chaudhary and all other judges deposed in the November 3 emergency.

Mr. Sharif showed up at a protest in the afternoon by lawyers and civil rights activists on the barricaded road leading to Mr. Chaudhary’s home, and pledged that his reinstatement was now “only a matter of days.”

The former Chief Justice has been under an undeclared house arrest since November 3, and the agitation for his release has continued unabated since then.

The PML (N) has indicated that it can partner a PPP-led coalition government only if there is agreement on Mr. Chaudhary’s reinstatement. Mr. Sharif said earlier this week that once restored to its pre-November 3 position, the judiciary could take up the question of President Pervez Musharraf’s legitimacy.

The PPP has been guarded about making pledges on this issue. On Wednesday, Mr. Zardari said his party stood for the independence of the judiciary as an institution, rather than get into specific instances. With the two leaders expected to discuss this at their much-awaited meeting, the legal community and its supporters flagged the issue with a charged up protest rally that went from the house of Aitzaz Ahsan, jailed lawyer of Mr. Chaudhary, up to the deposed Chief Justice’s barricaded home.

Earlier in the day, Mr. Zardari held talks in the capital with Awami National Party leader Asfandyar Wali Khan on issues related to government formation at the Centre and in the NWFP.

Their meeting came amid speculation that the PPP may stake a claim to form the provincial government with the help of independents even though the ANP has emerged as the single largest party in the NWFP. The party has won 10 seats in the National Assembly.

Speaking to journalists after the meeting, the two leaders said they had agreed on a four point agenda that includes restoration of the 1973 Constitution, supremacy of Parliament, provincial autonomy and independence of judiciary. The ANP is apparently in agreement with the PPP’s cautious position on the last one. Mr. Wali Khan said that as the single largest party in the province, the ANP claimed the right to form the government.

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