Islamabad: Signalling that it was ready for a showdown with President Pervez Musharraf, Pakistan's new government has said "extra-constitutional steps" taken by him during emergency rule last year are not part of the Constitution as Parliament is yet to endorse them.
"No individual is authorised to amend the Constitution and Parliament alone can take such an action only with a two-thirds majority," new Law Minister Farooq Naek has said.
Naek said the coalition government led by the PPP is committed to reinstating the judges sacked by Musharraf, including former Chief Justice Iftikhar Muhammad Chaudhry, within 30 days of coming to power. The 30-day countdown for reinstating the deposed judges had begun on March 31, he told reporters.
The Constitution had not been amended since 2003 when Parliament passed the 17th Amendment to give Musharraf sweeping powers, said Naek, who was earlier the lawyer for slain PPP chief Benazir Bhutto and her widower Asif Ali Zardari.
The Supreme Court formed after the emergency had endorsed the Provisional Constitution Order issued by Musharraf on November 3, 2007 when emergency was imposed without having the authority to do so, Naek told reporters. Referring to allegations by Supreme Court Bar Association president Aitzaz Ahsan that conspiracies were being hatched to subvert the reinstatement of the judges, Naek said the lawyers movement should avoid making such statements and instead trust the government.
The government will deliver some "good news" on the issue of reinstating the judges, he said.
