ISLAMABAD, Aug 20: Leaders of the smaller groups in the ruling coalition are reported to be of the view that the judiciary may be restored to the pre-Nov 3 position by an executive order supported by a resolution of the National Assembly.

Awami National Party’s president Asfandyar Wali Khan, Jamiat Ulema-i-Islam-F chief Maulana Fazlur Rahman and Fata parliamentarian Munir Khan Orakzai held their first meeting here on Wednesday in their bid to resolve differences between the Pakistan People’s Party and Pakistan Muslim League-N.

According to sources, they discussed various aspects of the issue and went through the Murree accord and a written agreement reached among the coalition partners on Aug 7 which accorded first priority to impeachment of Gen (retd) Musharraf and stated that the sacked judges would be reinstated through an executive order supported by a resolution.

The sources said the JUI-F held its own meeting on the issue on Tuesday evening and came to the conclusion that both the major parties had agreed twice to reinstate the judges to the pre-Nov 3 position by adopting a resolution in the National Assembly. The meeting was attended by, among others, the party’s secretary-general Maulana Abdul Ghafoor Haideri, former chief minister Akram Durrani and Senator Azam Swati.

The party leadership conveyed its stand to the participants of Wednesday’s meeting.

Maulana Fazl and Asfandyar Wali told journalists: “We have reached a preliminary conclusion after going through the documents but we will not disclose our findings at this stage.”

Both the leaders denied that PPP co-chairman Asif Ali Zardari had at any stage refused to reinstate (deposed) Chief Justice Iftikhar Mohammad Chaudhry.

When asked whether the nation should expect ‘good news’ within the three days they had got to resolve the issue, the ANP chief said: “We will deliver on what we have committed.”

He said the three-member committee had to thrash out a number of issues topped by restoration of the judiciary. The issues of giving indemnity to Gen (retd) Musharraf and the law and order situation in the Federally Administered Tribal Areas, the NWFP and Balochistan will also be addressed.

“We were not consulted by the two major coalition partners on major policy issues and we need to ponder over them now for a consensus among all the member parties,” he said.

He said the committee would share its findings with Mr Zardari and PML-N chief Mina Nawaz Sharif’s nominees Chaudhry Nisar Ali Khan and Ishaq Dar.

Replying to a question, the ANP chief said: “It will be wrong to assume that I will ever oppose reinstatement of the deposed judges because I am the one who had picked up the bodies of 22 of my followers in the Karachi carnage on May 12 last year in the midst of the lawyers’ movement.”

JUI-F leader Maulana Haideri said that the committee could not recommend any course of action except reinstating the judges through a parliamentary resolution because, otherwise, the PML-N could make the two accords public and make it difficult for the coalition leaders to save face.

A source in the JUI-F said that Mr Zardari was stressing on giving indemnity to Gen (retd) Musharraf for all his actions so that the issue of the National Reconciliation Ordinance might not be reopened in future.