By IANS,
Islamabad : After the reinstatement of the deposed judges May 12, Pakistan will see a mixed bag of judges – those who refused to bow to President Pervez Musharraf and those who did, a newspaper said Saturday.
“This will shatter the dream of millions of struggling Pakistanis, who have been hoping against hopes that a fiercely independent judiciary will come back with the reinstatement of the sacked judges,” The News said in a report.
“The Supreme Court will now have a total of 26 judges, a number that no apex court in any country of the world has,” The News said.
Judges of the higher judiciary who were sacked after Musharraf imposed emergency in November last year are set to return to their posts following the coming to power of a new government.
“Those who were inducted in the Supreme Court and high courts under the widely condemned PCO (Provincial Constitutional Order) and emergency rule would stay as judges. The superior courts will thus comprise defiant and compliant judges who are likely to have a confrontational relationship at the bench,” the newspaper said.
The restoration of judges had become a contentious issue between the ruling coalition of the Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP) and its ally, the Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N).
The row was resolved Friday after the two parties decided to restore the judges to their November position.
PML-N leader Nawaz Sharif told the media that the National Assembly would pass a resolution May 12 and the government would issue a notification to restore the deposed judges the same day.