Faced with a fresh challenge, President Pervez Musharraf went into a huddle with close aides and constitutional experts on Monday after the Pakistan People's Party and Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz decided to reinstate the judges sacked by him during emergency.
Some of the judges, including former Supreme Court Chief Justice Iftikhar Muhammad Chaudhry, were hearing petitions challenging Musharraf's re-election in uniform before they were deposed during emergency in 2007.
Though the new Supreme Court comprising Musharraf's hand-picked judges validated his re-election, legal experts believe the deposed judges could reopen that case once they are restored.
PPP co-chairman Asif Ali Zardari and PML-N chief Nawaz Sharif, who finalised arrangements to form a coalition government on Sunday, have committed themselves to reinstating the deposed judges by passing a resolution in the National Assembly within 30 days of assuming power.
Musharraf chaired a meeting of his close aides, including National Security Council Secretary Tariq Aziz, Attorney General Malik Qayyum and constitutional expert Sharifuddin Pirzada, at his camp office in Rawalpindi to evolve a strategy to deal with any situation that could arise from the reinstatement of the deposed judges.
The meeting also discussed the prevailing political situation and the fixing of a date for convening the new National Assembly, Dawn News channel quoted official sources as saying.
Musharraf's constitutional advisors were of the view that the PPP and PML-N, which have a simple majority in the new parliament, could not restore the judges through a resolution as they were dismissed through an order which was later incorporated in the constitution by Musharraf, the sources said.
The advisors believe the judges could be reinstated only through a constitutional amendment passed by a two-thirds majority in both houses of parliament.
The planned PPP-led coalition has fallen five seats short of a two-thirds majority required in the new National Assembly. The PPP, PML-N and ANP bagged a total of 223 seats in the 342-strong lower house of parliament and 10 seats are yet to go to polls.
The reinstatement of the deposed judges could set the new coalition on a collision course with Musharraf, who has vowed that the sacked judges, especially former Chief Justice Chaudhry, would not be allowed to return under any circumstances.
Attorney General Qayyum told The News that the Provisional Constitutional Order that was issued to sack the judges during the emergency imposed on November 3, 2007 has 'constitutional cover' and 'their return through a resolution would be unthinkable'.