Islamabad: Pakistan's ruling PPP today said the judges deposed last year by President Pervez Musharraf would be reinstated as part of a reforms package that will ensure the independence of the judiciary and prevent its manipulation in future.

Addressing a meeting of the Pakistan People's Party's central executive committee and federal council in Larkana, party co-chairman Asif Ali Zardari said the manipulation of the judiciary by the executive in the past had weakened the institution.

Noting that the time had come to strengthen the judiciary to serve as a "bulwark against dictatorship", he said the PPP is committed to reinstating the deposed judges in keeping with its agreement with the PML-N to form a coalition government.

The reinstatement of the judges will be linked to a "package of reforms to ensure the independence of the judiciary and to stop future adventurers from manipulating it to perpetuate themselves in power".

The PPP and PML-N, the two main players in the ruling coalition, have committed themselves to reinstating the judges deposed during last year's emergency rule within 30 days of forming government.

The people wanted judges to "honour their oath to preserve and protect the constitution instead of taking fresh oaths of allegiance to an individual (while) ignoring the oath to protect the constitution", Zardari was quoted as saying in a statement issued by the PPP.

Source : PTI