August 2, 2003	Saturday	Jumadi-us-Sani 3, 1424

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ISLAMABAD, Aug 1: The government will not accept the Muttahida Majlis-i-Amal’s (MMA) demand to relieve those judges of the superior courts who have attained the age of superannuation, but may agree to reduce the period of extension in their retirement age from three years to two.

An official source told Dawn that the government did not consider as realistic the MMA demand that those judges who had reached retirement age but were still in service by virtue of extension given under the LFO should be relieved.

President Pervez Musharraf had enhanced the retirement age of Supreme Court and high court judges by three years on Nov 9, 2002.

Under the government plan, the MMA would be asked to decide itself whether it wanted to enhance or reduce the retirement age of judges. The government would not oppose if the extension was reduced to two years.

The government and the MMA have agreed on a broader outline of a possible agreement but they still have to work out its details. A meeting of the MMA and the government team would be held in a couple of days.

The source said a meeting between President Gen Pervez Musharraf and three MMA leaders — Allama Shah Ahmed Noorani, Maulana Fazlur Rahman, and Qazi Hussain Ahmed — would be held after details of the agreement were finalized.

If the MMA demand to relieve those judges who have attained the age of superannuation is accepted then three Supreme Court judges, Chief Justice Sheikh Riaz Ahmed, Justice Munir A. Sheikh and Justice Qazi Mohammad Farooq, would have to go home. But if the judiciary is given a two-year extension across the board, then the Supreme Court judges would retire at the age of 67, and those of high courts at 64.

The official source said no discussions had yet been held on the fate of cases pending in the Supreme Court, challenging the academic qualification of MMA legislators.

The government would not like to make any commitment to the MMA on the issue but might not go against the alliance when the cases would be taken up by the Supreme Court.

One possibility is that the cases would remain pending till the time the legislators whose qualification is challenged pass the two subjects and their Sanads become equivalent to BA degree.