March 11, 2008	Tuesday	Rabi-ul-Awwal 2, 1429

ISLAMABAD, March 10: Attorney-General Malik Mohammad Qayyum said on Monday that a constitutional amendment, and not a mere resolution of the National Assembly, was required to reinstate the deposed judges.

“Resolution is just a desire of the legislators expressed on some issue, having no binding force,” he told reporters at the Supreme Court.

He said that leaders of the PPP and PML-N had been wrongly briefed to suggest that a mere resolution could restore the deposed judges. “This could be done only through an amendment to the Constitution by two-thirds majority in both houses of parliament with presidential assent,” he said.

PML-N chief Nawaz Sharif and PPP co-chairperson Asif Zardari on Sunday signed the “Murree Summit Declaration” which announced that the deposed judges would be restored to the pre-Nov 3 position through a resolution to be adopted in the National Assembly within 30 days of the formation of the federal government.

Several constitutional experts believe that the deposed judges can be restored by parliament without any constitutional amendment.

But Malik Qayyum cited many examples to support his arguments and said that in the past resolutions on the Wage Board Award for journalists, Kalabagh Dam and changing the name of the Frontier province to Pakhtunkhwa had been passed in the national and four provincial assemblies and these remained mere recommendations.

“Resolutions never become law and passing a resolution on the restoration of judges in parliament will ultimately prove futile as the judges were removed through an extra-constitutional measure while proclaiming emergency on Nov 3, 2007, which was later given a constitutional cover by amending the Constitution under Article 270AAA,” he added.

Moreover, removal of the judges and proclamation of the state of emergency and the PCO were also upheld by the Supreme Court which declared the issue of deposed judges who did not take the oath under the PCO a past and closed chapter.

The AG conceded that parliament was supreme and could do anything, but said that parliamentary resolutions only expressed desire of the legislators and could not be treated as permanent law.

When asked about the fate of present judges if the deposed judges were restored, Malik Qayyum said the issue was “very complicated”, adding that many judges had been elevated to the present post after the revival of the Constitution and they had taken the oath under the Constitution.

“This will also create a seniority problem. These judges could only be removed by invoking Article 209 of the Constitution (Supreme Judicial Council).” However, he said, parliament had the power to do away with this provision for a while.

“I think the legal position on the judges’ issue was not properly explained to the party heads.”

He denied that he had a meeting with President Pervez Musharraf on Monday.

When asked if a referendum could be held on the issue of restoring the deposed judges, he said that only the president could order a referendum on an issue, but its result too would not be binding.

He said that all acts taken during the period of emergency had become part of the Constitution and could only be done away with a constitutional amendment through a two-thirds majority in parliament.