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Bad omen for Musharraf: Pakistan's chief justice back
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| Contributor | ArmyDem |
| Last Edited | ArmyDem May 01, 2008 10:02pm |
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| Category | News |
| News Date | Friday, May 2, 2008 04:00:00 AM UTC0:0 |
| Description | By Saeed Shah | McClatchy Newspapers
Posted on Thursday, May 1, 2008
ISLAMABAD, Pakistan — Pakistan's fragile coalition government agreed Thursday to reinstate the chief justice and 60 other judges fired by Pervez Musharraf, a move almost certain to spell trouble for the U.S.-backed president, government officials said.
Under a compromise between the parties that's expected to be revealed Friday, the judges will be restored, but the powers of Chief Justice Iftikhar Chaudhry will be reined in. Also, the pro-Musharraf judges who took the oath of office in November will be kept in office.
According to officials close to the negotiations, Chaudhry's tenure will be limited to five years in office, meaning that he would have another two years in the job. Previously, he could have continued until retirement in 2013.
The month-old ruling coalition had looked to be in danger of splitting over the issue of bringing back Chaudhry and the other judges who were dismissed by Musharraf in November, when he put the country under a six-week period of emergency rule.
The party of former Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif had staked its political credibility on being able to reinstate the judiciary, but its senior coalition partner, the Pakistan People's Party, led by Asif Zardari, appeared reluctant to start a confrontation with Musharraf. The threatened departure of Sharif's party, had there been no agreement, would have opened the way for Musharraf's allies to replace them.
"There is no ambiguity; there is no doubt about it," Sharif said after a marathon two-day negotiating session with Zardari in Dubai. "The restoration of the judges will take place." |
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