Reinstatement of Pak judges may take two weeks: Zardari

The judges sacked on November 3, 2007, will be restored through a constitutional package likely in two weeks, Pakistan People's Party (PPP) Co-chairman Asif Ali Zardari said on Monday.
In an interview with Geo TV, he said a comprehensive package would be tabled in parliament along with a resolution and an executive order.
He said the restoration of the sacked judges within the 30-day deadline was a political proposition and not a Hadith (that should be adhered to strictly). The restoration was not a simple matter, he said, as it involved law and constitution.
He said the judges' restoration was not the PPP's mandate and people had voted for the party because of its slogan, 'food, clothing and shelter'. But he said he wanted to honour Nawaz's pledge that the sacked judges would be restored.
Zardari said he wanted not just judges but the institution of judiciary to be independent, and the reforms package his party had put together aimed at strengthening the judiciary. The constitutional package would ensure the incumbent judges worked together with the sacked ones, he added.
Prime minister: The PPP co-chairman said he could easily have become the prime minister if he had wanted to, but that Prime Minister Yousaf Raza Gillani would remain in office for the full five-year term.
Zardari said he had applied for a party ticket to contest from four constituencies and the decision to give Aitzaz Ahsan a ticket would be made by the party.
Civilian president: He said that he would like the parliament to gain more strength by removing the 58 (2b) clause and that he would also like to bring in a civilian president.
Zardari said the previous government had blamed the assassination of Benazir Bhutto on Al Qaeda but the matter required a United Nations-led probe. “I do not want to send an 18-year-old boy to the gallows for her assassination and want to know the real motives behind it,” he said.