December 23, 2003	Tuesday	Shawwal 28, 1424

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ISLAMABAD, Dec 21: The government has agreed to one-year extension to the retirement age of judges of the superior courts, paving way for tabling of consensus constitutional bill in the National Assembly on Dec 26.

A senior government legal aide told Dawn that the government has accepted the Muttahida Majlis-i-Amal demand of one-year extension to the judges. The one-year extension to the judges would be applicable from the date when the Legal Framework Order was made effective a year ago.

The government decision would be conveyed to the ruling party and its allies on Monday in a meeting at Prime Minister Secretariat.

The MMA, sources told Dawn, insisted for the implementation of Lahore agreement, in which the government had agreed to one-year extension.

Seven judges of superior courts, three from Supreme Court, and four from high courts, would be affected. Those who are staying in the judiciary because of the extension to the judges are: Chief Justice Shaikh Riaz Ahmad, SC; Justice Munir A. Sheikh, SC; Qazi Mohammad Farooq, SC; Raja Sabir, LHC; Zahid Qurban Alvi, SHC; Ashraf Leghari, SHC and Abdur Rauf Lughmani from the Peshawar High Court.

The MMA has agreed to all the 32 provisions of the LFO, with slight modifications, except for getting concession on the issue of superior court judges.

The bill which has been finalized would be tabled in the National Assembly on Dec 26. The government, sources said, was not very keen to extension on the retirement age of judges, as it was getting unexpected criticism on the issue.

The Bar of the country, in complete unison, opposed the extension to the judges and termed it “dubious gift” of the military ruler for the judges who had validated his military rule for three years.

The judiciary had got three years extension on the night of Nov 9, 2002, when the country was going for elections. The extension to the judges was not part of the constitutional package prepared by the NRB for soliciting public reaction.

The Bar of the country had termed the extension in the retirement age of judges as an “act of reciprocity by the military government” as it had returned three years to judges which it had got from judiciary.

As a last ditch effort, the government approached the MMA leadership for two-year extension to the judges as it would embarrass the country’s top judiciary if it were told to quit unceremoniously after the reduction in the retirement age limit by two years. The MMA, however, insisted that it would not budge from the Lahore Agreement in which the government had agreed to one-year extension to the members of superior court judiciary.

Besides, the president would give it in writing to the MMA leadership that he would retire as COAS before Dec 31, 2004.

The MMA has also got a concession that in future, the president would appoint the services chiefs in consultation with the prime minister, and not in his discretion. The legal experts are of the view that the president is not bound by the outcome of “consultation” as he is in the case of “advice”.

Prime Minister Mir Zafarullah Khan Jamali will chair a meeting of the leadership of coalition parliamentary parties leadership at prime minister’s house at 7pm. Immediately following this, the two sides would sign and seal the agreed package, sources said.

CHAUDHRY SHUJAAT: Chaudhry Shujaat Hussain, PML-Q chief, who is said to have served as the spokesman of President Musharraf in the talks with the MMA, on Sunday took his party’s top brass in confidence on the negotiations with MMA. He is expected to brief the leadership of other coalition partners on Monday.

Meanwhile, the Chaudhry told a group of journalists after meeting party leadership, that the constitutional talks with the MMA had entered the decisive stage and a breakthrough was expected on Monday.

He disclosed that both the negotiating teams at the end of Saturday night’s lengthy parleys had exchanged a common draft constitutional package in which they had agreed on almost all contentious issues except the one concerning extension in the retirement age of the judges.

He said the two sides had agreed on the procedure of president’s election according to which the members of the electoral college, that is, the National Assembly, the Senate and the four provincial assemblies, would express their confidence in the president by show of hands.

He further said that the issues of presidential powers of dissolving assemblies under 58(2)b, National Security Council (NSC), president’s discretionary powers, local government ordinance and the issue of one man keeping two high offices, all were settled.

Responding to a question, he said there would be no deadlock in the talks after Saturday night’s parleys.

He admitted that the two days’ delay was sought by him to seek ultimate guidance from “the higher leadership” by which he perhaps meant President Musharraf and Prime Minister Jamali.

The author of the proposed consensus draft constitutional package Senator S.M.Zafar, who was present during the press talk, said the negotiations were held in good faith and in the interest of breaking the deadlock and the final outcome would be positive.

He said the constitutional amendment package would immediately be tabled in the National Assembly after it was signed by the two sides.

The PML-Q meeting was attended, among others, by party Secretary-General Salim Saifullah Khan, Vice President Lt-Gen (retired) Abdul Majeed Malik, leader of the house in the Senate Wasim Sajjad, Senator Javed Ashraf Qazi and Information Secretary Senator Azim Tariq.

Talking to Dawn Salim Saifullah said the party leadership had expressed its satisfaction with what the party chief had achieved in the talks with the MMA.

He said Chaudhry Shujaat would take the coalition partners into confidence before finalizing the draft amendment package.

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