May 10, 2008	Saturday	Jamadi-ul-Awwal 4, 1429

ISLAMABAD, May 9: Minister for Law, Justice and Parliamentary Affairs Senator Farooq H. Naek is not optimistic about the National Assembly holding a session on May 12 to adopt a resolution for restoration of the pre-Nov 3, 2007, judiciary.

The minister who heads the committee of experts and representatives of the PPP and PML-N on the issue told journalists at the Parliament House on Friday: “I do not foresee the session to be possibly summoned on the fixed date because of political exigencies.”

He said the committee had finalised the draft of a resolution but a few reservations of some members over the mechanism for reinstating the judges needed to be addressed.

“Aitzaz Ahsan, representing the lawyers’ movement, and Hafeez Pirzada, apparently representing the presidency’s point of view, had a difference of opinion, so we asked them to submit their points of view in writing,” Senator Naek said.

He said the committee had received the submissions of Mr Ahsan.

Replying to a question, the minister said that if the present judges were retained, the legal complication could be solved by amending the Supreme Court’s Act of Number of Judges, which set the maximum number of judges including the chief justice at 17.

“The act can be amended through a bill in parliament or an ordinance can be promulgated under Article 59 of the Constitution,” he said.

He said Prime Minister Yousuf Raza Gilani had directed the law and justice ministry to speed up work on the drafts of legislations regarding provincial autonomy, NAB Ordinance and jail reforms.