The government is considering a legal package under which the deposed judges would be reinstated within 30 days but sacked Chief Justice Iftikhar Muhammad Chaudhary will be shown the door through a new law that would restrict the tenure of the top judge to three years. The Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz is the only hurdle in the way of this way out to solve the sensitive issue of the deposed judges as other components of ruling coalition are in agreement over the resolution, said an official. Contrary to Pakistan People's Party (PPP), Awami National Party (ANP), Jamiat Ullema-i-Islam-Fazal, (JUI-F), the PML-N is, however, strongly opposed to the idea of restoring deposed judges sans Chaudhary. The Muttahida Qaumi Movement (MQM), which is under the process of being inducted in government, already has serious reservations against Chaudhary. The experts treating judicial crises, on the other hand, are trying to convince the PML-N that the former top adjudicator of the country would be honorably retired after being reinstated in coming June, the month that marks the completion of third anniversary of his appointment as Chief Justice of Pakistan. Meanwhile, a report said that a minister has been going around meeting some of the deposed judges in Islamabad's Judges Enclave to seek assurances that once restored they would not re-open cases against President Musharraf. The minister met some of the deposed judges three days ago and proposed only one condition for their restoration: they would not reopen cases against the man at the top. Some PPP stalwarts are said to have become part of this game plan to offset the PPP commitment to restore judges through a resolution in the National Assembly. The scheme is to block the restoration of Chaudhary by resorting to a constitutional package, which, if adopted, would result in the dismissal of all the superior court judges and their reappointment after scrutiny and confirmation by a parliamentary body. Under the garb of giving sovereignty to parliament, the effort is to negate the mandate of the people for restoration of deposed judges as on Nov. 2. However, the author of this strange game plan has conveniently overlooked the basic point that if scrutiny of sitting judges by a parliamentary body is accepted as a prerequisite for their restoration then every judge would become controversial. “Skeletons would be brought out of every cupboard of every judge by lawyers, civil society members, media and others,” a source said, adding such a recipe would not allow even the government to retain judges of its choice. Supreme Court Bar Association (SCBA) President Aitzaz Ahsan has already started warning about such a conspiracy. __
