Pakistan coalition averts collapse with deal to restore ousted judges

Pakistan's fledgling civilian government appeared last night to have found a way out of the crisis threatening to pull it apart when it announced that the nation's ousted judges would be restored this month.

The former prime minister Nawaz Sharif, whose Pakistan Muslim League-N (PML-N) is the junior coalition party, said 12 May had been set as the date for the reinstatement of the 60 judges – including the ousted chief justice Iftikhar Chaudhry – who were kicked out by President Pervez Musharraf last year.

"I want to inform the entire nation that on Monday, 12 May 2008, all deposed judges will be restored," said Mr Sharif. "We are in strong favour of keeping this coalition for the sake of the country and we understand we should keep it at all costs. Its break-up would rejuvenate dictatorship."

Mr Sharif's comments came after two days of intense talks with senior member of the Pakistan People's Party (PPP), the party formerly headed by the late Benazir Bhutto and now led by her husband, Asif Ali Zardari. Meeting in Dubai, the two parties that formed the coalition government after February's elections, were keen to avoid a split.

Mr Sharif had staked his campaign to the restoration of the judges who were ousted last November when Mr Musharraf imposed a state of emergency. The judges could revive challenges to the legitimacy of Mr Musharraf's re-election by an outgoing parliament while still army chief, and Mr Sharif wants them brought back as the first step in driving his nemesis from the presidential palace.

By contrast, Mr Zardari – in theory, a to-the-grave enemy of Mr Musharraf – had been promoting a more conciliatory course.

Many in Pakistan believe that Mr Zardari, accused of widespread corruption when Ms Bhutto was prime minister, has no more desire for an independent judiciary than Mr Musharraf. Reports suggest the PPP favours reinstating Mr Chaudhry and then forcing him to retire. Mr Sharif's party wants him to remain in his role until 2010.

Mr Sharif said a six-member committee headed by the Law minister Farooq Naek will prepare a draft of the resolution and address other legal issues regarding the restoration of the judges. The committee will include the lawyer Aitzaz Ahsan, the president of Supreme Court Bar Association and the man who led Mr Chaudhry's fight for the restoration for his position as chief justice last year.