The presidency is geared up to seek a stay order from the Supreme Court if the deposed judges were restored through an executive order issued on the basis of a resolution to be passed by the National Assembly (Lower House of Parliament) on May 12. “President Pervez Musharraf would not watch such development as a silent spectator. He is resolute to act firmly in order to block the return of the sacked justices,” an informed official told this correspondent. He said that there was also a strong possibility that the Supreme Court may take a suo motu notice of the restoration of the dismissed judges in a way as pressed by the Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N). A petition that was already pending in the apex court asking for a stay order against any such parliamentary resolution or executive order may be taken up moments after such reinstatement. The official said that the president's principal legal eagle Syed Sharifuddin Pirzada, who had frequently briefed him on the constitutional position of the non-binding parliamentary resolution and any subsequent executive order, would represent him in the Supreme Court.He said that the mass ouster of the superior court judges on the force of the Nov. 3, 2007 martial law, issued by Musharraf in his capacity as the chief of the army staff, was a “past and closed chapter” in the words of two judgments of the Supreme Court. The official referred to a ruling of the present apex court headed by Justice Abdul Hameed Dogar, which held, after the ouster of the present deposed justices, that the judges who had not taken oath under the PCO were gone. Meanwhile, a four-member committee of noted legal experts formed by the Pakistan Muslim League-Q (PML-Q) has been mandated to protect the “position and interests” of President Pervez Musharraf in any package of constitutional amendments that the government would present in the parliament. PML-Q chief Chaudhry Shujaat Hussain set up the committee comprising SM Zafar, Wasim Sajjad, Dr Khalid Ranjha and Anwar Bhinder after meeting President Pervez Musharraf on Wednesday. Addressing an Ulema convention, Chief of Jamiat Ulemae Islam (JUI) Maulana Fazlur Rehman said the deadlock over judges issue between the PPP and PML-N should not end up in dismissal of the new coalition government. __
