April 18, 2008	Friday	Rabi-us-Sani 11, 1429

ISLAMABAD, April 17: Constitutional expert Fakhruddin G. Ebrahim has stressed the need for early resolution of the judges’ issue in accordance with the Constitution instead of politicising the matter through proposals like forming a parliamentary committee.

“I am talking of the Constitution and the future of the nation,” Mr Ebrahim told Dawn on Thursday amid reports that the draft of a resolution for reinstating the judges, likely to be adopted during the current session of the National Assembly, had been sent to the law ministry.

“I sent the draft three weeks ago,” he said, pleading forcefully that the coalition government could easily reinstate the superior courts’ judges without any constitutional amendment because they had been removed unconstitutionally by President Pervez Musharraf.

Mr Ebrahim said his draft had the backing of 15 former judges, among them four chief justices, who had affirmed his opinion that the removal under the emergency decree was unconstitutional and a resolution in the National Assembly would be more than sufficient for their reinstatement.

Since judges could only be removed by invoking Article 209 (Supreme Judicial Council), a resolution in the lower house reflecting the intention of the people’s representatives to deny affirmation to the purported amendments to the Constitution would provide more than sufficient backing for the executive to do the needful, he said.

“In any event, it is an obligation of the executive under Articles 5 and 190 of the Constitution to take immediate measures for reinstating all chief justices and judges removed on Nov 3 and direct the law-enforcement agencies to enable them to resume their duties,” Mr Ebrahim said.

He said that the deposed judges should be reinstated first and then the government would be free to bring any constitutional package to remove anomalies in the Constitution.

About the recent meeting between the heads of the parties in the ruling coalition, Mr Ebrahim said the Pakistan People’s Party had some reservations on reinstating the judges, but claimed the issue had been resolved.

He said as the removal of the judges who had not taken oath under the PCO was unconstitutional, no appointment of chief justices or judges could be made against existent or non-existent vacancies, particularly without consulting the de jure chief justice, Iftikhar Mohammad Chaudhry.

However, Advocate Ahmed Raza Kasuri said the judges could not be reinstated without a constitutional amendment. “Changes can be made to the acts taken during the emergency rule, but not without a constitutional amendment as the Supreme Court has validated the proclamation of emergency, which was also approved by the previous National Assembly,” he said.