JURIST - Paper Chase: Pakistan jurist quits committee drafting resolution to restore ousted judges

[JURIST] A key member of a five-person panel convened last week by Pakistan's coalition government to draft a parliamentary resolution to reinstate judges ousted by Pakistani President Pervez Musharraf has quit, according to local media reports Monday. Retired Justice Fakhruddin Ibrahim sent a letter to Pakistani Law Minister Farooq Naek announcing that he was quitting because of the "non-serious attitude" of fellow panel members. Ibrahim also reportedly objected to "unconstitutional" efforts by the Pakistan People's Party (PPP) [party website] to retain judges who had endorsed Musharraf's declaration of emergency [JURIST report] last year. Naek has said that the draft resolution must be unanimously approved by the panel; in the event of a disagreement, the resolution will pass to the top leadership of the PPP and Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) [party website] for consideration. On Friday, former Pakistani Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif said that the judges would be restored May 12 [JURIST report], but Pakistani legal experts are skeptical that the parties can reach agreement by that time. PTI has more.

In April, Sharif had asked Ibrahim to draft a resolution for reinstating the ousted judges. JURIST's Pakistan correspondent speculates that Ibrahim might have felt insulted that the coalition government rejected his original draft in favor of something to be drafted by committee.

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