The wheel seems to be coming full circle.
Pakistan government to ask sacked judges to resume work](http://feeds.bignewsnetwork.com/?sid=309047)
Some of Pakistan’s former Supreme Court and high court judges who refused to swear allegiance to President Pervez Musharraf after the declaration of emergency on Nov 3 may be asked to take oath after it is lifted.
‘Some former supreme and high court judges are likely to be invited to take oath under the 1973 constitution. The sitting chief justices and judges of the present courts will also have to take fresh oath under the constitution once the emergency order is withdrawn,’ a government official said on condition of anonymity.
On Thursday, Attorney General Malik Abdul Qayyum had said emergency would be lifted Saturday but after some amendments to the 1973 constitution through a presidential order.
More than 60 judges of the superior courts, including then chief justice Iftikhar Chaudhry, had refused to take oath under the Provisional Constitutional Order (PCO) when Musharraf imposed emergency in the country.
Another source in the government said the move to ask former judges to take oaths and restore them to their previous positions was being taken due to tremendous national and international pressure.
He said the government was also considering inviting Chaudhry to rejoin as chief justice but ‘under some conditions’.
The Saudi Arabian ambassador to Pakistan is said to have discussed the issue with Chaudhry last week although the embassy said he visited the former chief justice to invite him for Haj.
According to officials, presidential orders are ready for revocation of emergency, repeal of provisional constitution, re-establishment of the Islamabad High Court, and grant of pension benefits to judges who had either refused or not been invited by the government to take the oath under the PCO.
With the lifting of the emergency and the repeal of the PCO, all fundamental rights would stand restored and the media would be the greatest beneficiary.