LAHORE, June 18: A senior PPP office-bearer, Senator Dr Babar Awan, says acceptance of salaries by the deposed judges means they have admitted that issue of their restoration should be resolved in accordance with the constitutional package prepared by the government.
Appreciating it as a ‘wise decision’ on part of the judges at a press conference here on Wednesday, the senator told this correspondent afterwards that the release of salaries was the first step in the light of the package which would be followed by increase in the number of judges.
“Now, practically, all stakeholders have come to the conclusion that the judges' issue would only be decided by parliament in accordance with the constitutional package."
He said the most important development in this regard was the passage of budget proposals by the Senate, where no political force including the PML-N and the APDM had objected to the inclusion of enhancement of the number of judges' proposal in the finance bill.
He recalled that in the previous budget presented by then ruling PML-Q as many as 17 laws had been amended through the finance bill.
Asked what would be the situation with regard to the restoration of deposed judges on the day the finance bill was passed, Senator Awan said: "Judges could only be restored through the constitutional package."
Mr Awan, who defended Benazir Bhutto and Asif Ali Zardari in various cases, said any other proposal like an executive order or a parliamentary resolution, if implemented, could be struck down by any constitutional court keeping in view the two precedents of undoing the Hasba Bill passed by the NWFP Assembly. He pointed out that both the precedents had been set by deposed CJP Iftikhar Muhammad Chaudhry in 2005.
“So to avoid any such eventuality which could put the issue of independence of the judiciary on the backburner, the only feasible way to deal with legal-cum-constitutional matter is to resort to the constitutional package, which will be open to parliamentary debate.”
Asked to give in sequence the procedural steps required to be taken for the reinstatement of judges, the PPP parliamentarian said: “Other than the package, which means a constitutional amendment by a two-thirds majority of parliament under the present constitution, no judge could be restored or dismissed except by the mechanism provided under Article 209.”
When asked when the deposed judges would start performing their judicial functions, he said: “Deposed judges are (and will remain) deposed unless they are restored by parliament through the constitutional amendment. Through personal whims and choices no judge can be deposed or appointed.”
Asked why the framers of the constitutional package had not addressed the issue of removing the ban on a twice-elected prime minister to contest for a third term, Senator Awan said the matter could be raised by any parliamentary party in the house.