The Pakistan Policy Blog

Earlier today, Nawaz Sharif briefed a PML(N) leadership meeting discussing his talks with Asif Zardari.  Sharif said that they agreed that a resolution for restoring the deposed judges will be put before parliament on May 12.

Later, Law Minister Farooq Naik of the PPP addressed the media and stated that the resolution for restoring the judges and the judicial “reform” package will come together.  As I wrote yesterday, the two parties would be holding separate press conferences about their joint agreement and one should look for differences in their narratives.  [Naik also met with Abdul

The two narratives are not contradictory.  Sharif’s is just incomplete and somewhat disingenuous.

Sharif is accurate when he says the judges will be restored via a resolution, not a constitutional package.  But, once that resolution passed, the constitutional package will be pushed through parliament.  And when Chief Justice Iftikhar Chaudhry returns to his chambers, he’ll find his authority significantly diminished.  So Chaudhry will be restored to his November 2nd status–for a few hours or days.

On a related noted, there seems to be some significant changes emerging from the Musharraf camp.

One, leadership changes will probably be made in the PML(Q), a Pervez Musharraf-allied party.  Pitbulls (the Chaudhry cousins) will be replaced with less pugilistic politicians (e.g Hamid Nasir Chatta, Mir Zafrullah Jamali, Faisal Saleh Hayat, and Farooq Leghari). GEO News reports that Sheikh Rashid could replace Mushahid Hussain as secretary general of the PML(Q).

Two, GEO News also reports that Musharraf has informed the PPP that he’s conceded to the restoration of the judges.  He’s also discussing ‘voluntarily’ giving up his right to dissolve the National Assembly, i.e. the powers under article 58(2)(b).

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