ISLAMABAD, 9 May 2008 — Pakistan People’s Party Co-Chairman Asif Ali Zardari left for London yesterday to meet with Pakistan Muslim League (Nawaz) chief Nawaz Sharif and to discuss a draft resolution for the restoration of deposed judges, which the two leaders had earlier announced would be tabled in Parliament on Monday.

A committee that comprised law experts Aitzaz Ahsan, Abdul Hafeez Pirzada and Law Minister Farook Naik was assigned the task of preparing the draft of the resolution.

Sharif is currently in Britain for the treatment of his wife Kulsoom Nawaz.

A PPP-PML(N) joint committee for the restoration of the judges held its latest meting on Wednesday night, at the end of which Naik told reporters that the draft resolution was ready, but a final decision would be taken by Zardari and Sharif in London. He said the committee did not plan any more meetings.

PML-N Khawaja Asif is also leaving for London to join talks there.

There are still minor differences between the PPP and PML(N) over the reinstatement of the judges. The PPP wants to reinstate all those judges who were deposed on Nov. 3, 2007 when President Pervez Musharraf in his capacity as the chief of army staff imposed a state of emergency and fired Chief Justice Iftikhar Muhammad Chaudhry and forced remaining judges to take a fresh oath under a provisional constitutional order, or PCO. Sharif was initially not in favor of retaining those judges who took this oath after the imposition of emergency.

The strength of Supreme Court’s judges is 17. If all the deposed judges were to be reinstated and those who took oath under the PCO were retained, the total strength would be 27. “That needs a constitutional amendment,” said Abdul Hafeez Pirzada, considered the father of the 1973 Constitution.

But Aitzaz Ahsan, president of All Pakistan Bar Association, says: “The judges could be adjusted here or there, but we want the situation that existed on Nov. 2, 2007 restored.”

According to PPP sources, Zardari will meet his son and PPP Chairman Bilawal Bhutto Zardari. He is also expected to pay a courtesy call on Kulsoom Nawaz.

During his stay in London, Zardari will hold talks with Muttahida Qaumi Movement (MQM) chief Altaf Hussain and discuss the agenda of their coalition government in the southern Sindh province and MQM support for the federal government in Islamabad, the sources added.