August 07, 2008	Thursday	Sha’aban 4, 1429

ISLAMABAD, Aug 6: Eight deposed judges of the Sindh High Court are reported to have accepted the government’s offer of a fresh oath, prompting President Pervez Musharraf to sign a summary for their re-entry to the superior judiciary.

The judges are: Anwar Zaheer Jamali (Chief Justice), Arif Khilji, Sajjad Shah, Faisal Arab, Rehmat Hussain Jafri, Ameer Muslim, Mr Ansari and Mr Kalhoro.

The report that the president had signed a summary sent a wave of shock and anger across the country, with a number of lawyers and political parties describing it as an attempt to sabotage the agreement between PPP co-chairman Asif Zardari and PML-N chief Nawaz Sharif to impeach the president.

A number of SHC judges have been showing keenness to return under the law ministry’s formula for the past few months, but were reluctant to do so because of the fear of being isolated by their community.

Official sources confirmed on Wednesday that the president had signed the summary for reinstatement of five regular and three additional judges of the Sindh High Court. They said some deposed judges of the Lahore High Court would also be reinstated soon by giving them the same offer.

Analysts believe that the judges may have agreed to the offer because they have lost hope of reinstatement. They said that in political terms, the move would mean a division among deposed judges, but in technical terms they would be administered oath under the 1973 Constitution and, in no way, could be equated with PCO judges.

Justice (retd) Wajihuddin told Dawn it was a clear attempt to divide the judiciary. He said the judges agreeing to the fresh oath had been trapped, but they were not realising this now. “Ultimately they will become junior of the juniors,” he remarked.

He said those who thought that the decision would weaken the lawyers’ movement were living in fools’ paradise. He regretted that the assault on the judiciary was launched by a party which had signed the Charter of Democracy and the Murree Declaration and promised to restore the deposed judges through an executive order.

Eminent lawyer S.M. Zafar said that sensitive issues, if prolonged, created an ugly situation. He said the judges sacked by President Musharraf on Nov 3 were entitled to reinstatement.

He said a legal document would be prepared in this regard and he could comment only after going through the notification to be issued by the law ministry.

Advocate Syed Zafar Ali Shah said that so far no sacked judge had confirmed accepting the fresh offer. He said the law ministry had chosen a wrong time for a wrong action.

He said that by accepting the offer the judges would be upholding the proclamation of the Nov 3 emergency.

Justice (retd) Tariq Mehmood said that democratic forces would be accused of maligning the judiciary. He said the judges should be restored in line with the commitment made by the PPP and the PML-N in the Murree Declaration.

A former vice-president of the Supreme Court Bar Association, Chaudhry Ikram, said the signing of the summary by a “controversial president” was an illegal action taken by the government. “It is a mockery of the mandate given by the people in the Feb 18 elections.”