Islamabad: President Pervez Musharraf is "neutral" and has nothing to do with the reinstatement of judges deposed during last year's emergency, the presidential spokesman said today.

Spokesman Maj Gen (retired) Rashid Qureshi said that a final decision in this regard will have to be taken by Pakistan's ruling coalition government. The issue of the deposed judges is with the ruling coalition, which will make the final decision on this matter, Qureshi told Dawn News channel. The presidency has not held any meetings on the issue and it does not have "any concern" in the matter, he said.

The President is performing his duties in accordance with the Constitution and will continue to do so, Qureshi said. Musharraf was not consulted about the Election Commission's decision to postpone by-polls scheduled for June 18 by two months and the President had not directed the poll panel to do so, the spokesman said.

Qureshi said those who were "talking against the President do not even know about their constituencies". The PML-N, a key member of the ruling coalition led by the Pakistan People's Party, had alleged that the presidency had a hand in the Election Commission's decision to delay the by-polls. Shortly after imposing emergency rule in November last year, Musharraf had sacked 60 members of the superior judiciary, including former Supreme Court Chief Justice Iftikhar Muhammad Chaudhry.

Source : PTI