ISLAMABAD: Though his party voted for additional budgetary grant for those judges who took oath under Provisional Constitutional Order, Pakistan Muslim League (N) leader Nawaz Sharif said, “I do not recognize PCO judges and I will never appear before them.”
Sharif, while condoling the death of Sangeen Wali, the brother of the Awami National Party (ANP) chief, Asfandyar Wali Khan, at Charsadda Wali Bagh, expressed his views on the sidelines. Punjab Chief Minister Shahbaz Sharif, PML-N’s central leader, Chaudhry Nisar Ali Khan and Pir Sabir Shah were also present on this occasion.
Pakistan’s newly elected coalition government has been split by a deep disagreement over the process of restoring dozens of senior judges fired last year in a judicial purge by President Pervez Musharraf.
Sharif, whose party is the junior member of the coalition, pulled his ministers from the Cabinet last month demanding the issue be resolved.
Replying to a question, Sharif said that he wanted peace in the tribal areas and he would lend support to whatever efforts were made for this purpose. He also thanked the voters of his constituencies where he was leading in the vote count.
Meanwhile, the top UN human rights official called on the Pakistani government yesterday to swiftly resolve its judicial crisis and to ensure that peace deals with militants do not infringe on the rights of women and minorities.
“The current judicial crisis in Pakistan ... risks paralyzing the new government’s ability to address other critical policy challenges,” UN High Commissioner for Human Rights Louise Arbour said yesterday at the end of a two-day visit.
Whatever solution is found should ensure the country has “a free and independent judiciary,” she said.
