April 25, 2008	Friday	Rabi-us-Sani 18, 1429

ISLAMABAD, April 24: A seven-member committee formed by the leadership of Pakistan People’s Party and Pakistan Muslim League-N on the issue of reinstatement of deposed judges met here for the second day on Thursday and discussed the modalities for implementation of the Bhurban Declaration.

Sources told Dawn that the two sides discussed various proposals for the smooth implementation of the plan to restore some 60 judges of the superior courts who were deposed by President Pervez Musharraf when they refused to take oath under the Provisional Constitution Order (PCO), last year.

The differences between the two coalition partners over the issue of a proposed constitutional package has already delayed the tabling of a resolution in the National Assembly seeking reinstatement of the judges.

The Thursday’s meeting was held at the Parliament House chamber of Law Minister Farooq Naek.

Leader of the House in the Senate Raza Rabbani, Federal Minister for Information Sherry Rehman, Adviser to the Prime Minister on Interior Rehman Malik represented the PPP and Senior Minister Chaudhry Nisar Ali Khan, Finance Minister Ishaq Dar and Petroleum Minister Khawaja Mohammad Asif represented the PML-N. The meeting was presided over by Mr Naek.

The sources said the resolution for the judges’ restoration would now likely be tabled next week as the committee has so far failed to come up with concrete proposals.

However, there was no confirmation till the filing of this report whether the government will extend the National Assembly session for a few days or it will be prorogued on Friday, which is the last day of the current session according to the original schedule issued at the beginning of the session on April 10.

A PPP member of the committee said that the session could be convened again on a 24-hour notice after the two sides reached an understanding and, therefore, there was no need for extending the session.

Both Mr Zardari and Mr Sharif have repeatedly said that their parties were committed to implementing the Bhurban Declaration in letter and spirit under which they were bound to restore the deposed judges within 30 days of the formation of their coalition government. The federal cabinet was formed on March 31.

The PPP leader expressed the hope that the committee would complete its task before the 30-day deadline, but said the tabling of the resolution could take another day or two.