ISLAMABAD, May 6: The legal committee tasked to prepare a framework for the reinstatement of deposed judges ended a third round of talks here on Tuesday night with the hope to finish the job on Wednesday.

“We covered a lot of distance and achieved a lot in our four-hour long meeting today,” Law Minister Farooq H. Naek told journalists after the meeting, held at the residence of SCBA chief Aitzaz Ahsan.

“Tomorrow we will meet again at the Punjab House at 7pm,” said the minister, who suffered an attack of high blood pressure during the meeting. An ambulance was called to attend to him.

Asked if the May 12 deadline for presenting a resolution on judges’ reinstatement in the National Assembly would be met, Mr Naek said: “I’m hopeful and pray to Allah (for that to happen).”

But the host of the meeting, Aitzaz Ahsan, was not so optimistic. He told the media that the committee had not made much progress. He said he had “reservations about the committee”, but did not specify. However, he expressed the hope that the committee would reach some conclusion.

Although Mr Naek expressed the hope on Monday that former Supreme Court judge Fakhruddin G. Ebrahim would join the meeting, the latter did not turn up.

Mr Ebrahim dissociated himself from the committee on Monday because, according to him, it was more interested in retention of the judges inducted after Nov 3 than in reinstatement of the deposed judges.

His opposition to retention of the post-Nov 3 judges was also endorsed by Barrister Ahsan. In a TV talk show, he said the strength of the Supreme Court could only be raised to 27 from 17 judges by retaining the sitting judges as ad hoc — an appointment which never affects the seniority of regular judges.

“Since no vacancy has accrued in the apex court despite sending the judges home and putting them under detention, therefore substantive judicial appointment of these sitting judges could not be made,” he said.

The formation of the legal committee was announced by PML-N chief Nawaz Sharif on Friday after the conclusion of talks in Dubai between PPP co-chairperson Asif Zardari and him to work out the restoration of the pre-emergency judiciary on May 12 in accordance with the Bhurban Declaration.

The meeting was attended by Mr Naek, former law minister Abdul Hafeez Peerzada, Leader of the House in Senate Raza Rabbani, Adviser to the Prime Minister on Interior Rehman Malik, PML-N president Shahbaz Sharif, Khawaja Asif and Barrister Aitzaz Ahsan.

Hafeez Peerzada, who was a participant of the talk show with Mr Ahsan, said he was not representing President Pervez Musharraf in the committee and his name was suggested by heads of the coalition parties.

However, he said that recommendations of the committee could not be made effective without constitutional amendments. He said the executive order needed to reinstate the judges would flow only through such a legislation.