Pakistani coalition meets in Dubai on judges

ISLAMABAD - Pakistani coalition leaders will hold crucial talks in Dubai on Monday to finalise a draft on the restoration of judges sacked by President Pervez Musharraf, party officials said.
Shahbaz Sharif, brother of former premier Nawaz Sharif will meet with Asif Ali Zardari, the widower of slain opposition leader Benazir Bhutto, Sharif's Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz party spokesman Siddiqul Farooq told French newsagency.
Zardari, who is in the Gulf emirate where his family lived for much of the previous decade, has already summoned law minister Farooq Naek to hammer out details of the plan which is to be endorsed by the parliament.
They will discuss a draft prepared by a committee of the coalition partners last week, the spokesman said.
The committee was set up after reaching an impasse last week over the reinstatement of dozens of judges, including chief justice Iftikhar Muhammad Chaudhry, who were deposed by Musharraf under a state of emergency in November.
Musharraf took the unprecedented decision when it appeared the Supreme Court was about to overturn his re-election as president in October.
The coalition partners who defeated Musharraf's political allies in February elections, signed a pact in March pledging to restore the judges within 30 days of the new government taking power.
The deadline expires at the end of this month, Farooq said adding that 'we want to implement the pact in letter and spirit.'
'We have full confidence in Zardari. He is a man of commitment,' Farooq said amid speculation that Bhutto's party had some reservations.
Party insiders say the main division is over whether to leave Chaudhry out of the plan to restore the judges.
If the chief justice is restored he could take up fresh challenges to Musharraf's position, risking further instability in the militancy-hit, nuclear-armed nation.
Another possibility is that he could also seek to overturn an amnesty deal made late last year that cleared Zardari of graft charges.
The deal allowed Bhutto and Zardari to return home from exile last year. Bhutto was assassinated in an attack in December.
New prime minister Yousaf Raza Gilani, a key aide of Bhutto, who freed Chaudhry and other judges from house arrest last month, reiterated on Sunday that all judges will be restored.
The judges issue has become very important and nobody can oppose their reinstatement, Farooq said. 'Any deviation would be political suicide,' he added.
He said if an accord is reached in Dubai the prime minister may ask Musharraf to convene the parliament to adopt a resolution on the issue.