April 08, 2008	Tuesday	Rabi-us-Sani 1, 1429

ISLAMABAD, April 7: The government has proposed to President Pervez Musharraf to summon the National Assembly’s first regular session on Thursday, official sources told Dawn here on Monday.

The previous sessions of the assembly were brief and meant for members’ oath-taking, election of the speaker and deputy speaker, ascertainment of the leader of the house and vote of confidence for Prime Minister Syed Yusuf Raza Gilani.

The sources said the assembly was expected to pass two resolutions, one seeking a United Nations probe into the assassination of Pakistan People’s Party chairperson Benazir Bhutto and the other offering an apology to the nation over the ‘judicial murder’ of former prime minister Zulfikar Ali Bhutto in 1979.

It is not yet known if the government is also planning to table a resolution for reinstating the deposed judges of the superior courts, including Chief Justice Iftikhar Mohammad Chaudhry, in accordance with the Murree Declaration signed by PPP co-chairman Asif Zardari and Pakistan Muslim League-N chief Nawaz Sharif on March 9.

Sources in the PPP and the PML-N said a special committee to work out a plan for the reinstatement of the judges through a parliamentary resolution or a constitutional package had not yet been formed. They said the committee comprising members from all the coalition parties would be formed in a couple of days and it would hold its first meeting next week. The committee will work under Law Minister Senator Farooq H. Naek and present its recommendations to the National Assembly.

A PPP leader said the party had drafted a constitutional amendment bill but it had not been discussed with the coalition parties. He expressed the hope that the package would meet the expectations of the people because it would ensure independence of the judiciary, besides reinstating the deposed judges.

He claimed that the PPP was in contact with some PML-Q members in the Senate who had assured it of their cooperation in efforts to correct ‘constitutional imbalances’. He claimed that the PML-Q senators had also promised to support the government’s move to scrap Article 58-2(b) from the Constitution under which the president could dismiss an elected government and the National Assembly.

He said the assembly would never indemnify the proclamation of emergency by President Pervez Musharraf because the president had no power under the Constitution to issue a Provisional Constitution Order. He said Gen (retd) Musharraf had proclaimed emergency as the army chief and parliament could not endorse such acts.