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Islamabad: Prime Minister Yousuf Raza Gilani said on Saturday the Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP) wanted the reinstatement of the deposed judges through the constitutional route.
While further talks were expected in London between PPP leader Asif Ali Zardari and PML-N chief Nawaz Sharif, the prime minister told reporters in Lahore that the judges row had to be resolved with political maturity.
Media in Pakistan reported from the British capital that Zardari and Sharif were to meet again in a bid to break the stalemate after their talks on Friday ended without a decision. The reports said Sharif had extended his stay in London for a day, as a new deadline announced by him on May 2 after return from Dubai talks with Zardari to settle the judicial row is due to expire on Monday.
Sticking point
A sticking point was the future of the judges who had taken oath under a provisional constitution order (PCO) of President Pervez Musharraf after he imposed emergency rule on November 3 last year, which he revoked after six weeks.
Some 60 superior courts' judges, including chief justice Iftikhar Chaudhry of the Supreme Court, did not take oath under the PCO and were replaced.
Though the PML-N had already agreed to retention of the PCO judges upon the restoration of the judiciary to its pre-November 3 position it wanted them to be treated as ad-hoc judges.
Another contentious point was that the PPP favoured a constitutional package to reinstate the sacked judges while the PML-N stood for achieving the objective through a parliamentary resolution and a follow-up executive order. Gilani said in Lahore that an amicable solution to the judicial issue was highly desirable and it was a priority of the PPP.
Unconstitutional
"But we won't take any step which is unconstitutional or illegal, or which may lead to a clash between institutions," said the prime minister, a former vice-chairman of the PPP.
He said the two major coalition partners had the same objective and their differences were only on the "modalities" for the restoration of the deposed judges. The prime minister hoped that the issue would be resolved and the coalition would remain intact.
Meanwhile, a political alliance including Jamaat-e-Islami and Imran Khan's Tehreek Insaaf party announced it would launch street protests if the May 12 deadline for the restoration of the judges was not met by the ruling coalition.
The lawyer community has also threatened to step up its movement and some key figures in PML-N have made thinly veiled warnings the party could consider pulling out of the coalition. The PML-N has scheduled a meeting of its parliamentary party and central executive in Islamabad tomorrow to discuss the future course of action in the event of a collapse of the talks.
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