ISLAMABAD, April 23: Differences between the Pakistan People’s Party and the Pakistan Muslim League-N over the issue of a proposed constitutional package might delay for a few days the tabling of a resolution in the National Assembly seeking the reinstatement of judges, sources told Dawn here on Wednesday.

The sources said the first meeting of a committee formed by PPP co-chairman Asif Zardari and PML-N chief Nawaz Sharif on the judges’ issue remained inconclusive on Wednesday. The two sides agreed to meet again on Thursday.

The meeting was held at the Parliament House chamber of Law Minister Farooq Naek.

Raza Rabbani, Leader of the House in the Senate, Federal Information Minister Sherry Rehman and Adviser to the prime minister, Rehman Malik, represented the PPP while Senior Minister Chaudhry Nisar Ali Khan, Finance Minister Ishaq Dar and Petroleum Minister Khawaja Mohammad Asif represented the PML-N.

Sources in the PPP told Dawn it was highly unlikely that the resolution would be tabled in the National Assembly on Friday, the last day of the current session.

They said there was a possibility the government might extend the session till April 30 to give more time to the committee to finalise its proposals for the judges’ reinstatement.

Interestingly, PPP leaders say the committee is discussing both the draft of the resolution and the proposed constitutional package, but PML-N leaders say the committee has only been asked to finalise the draft of the resolution to be tabled in the National Assembly in accordance with the Bhurban Declaration to restore some 60 judges of the superior courts.

However, some participants confirmed they also discussed some of the proposals which the PPP wanted to include in the constitutional package, which the National Assembly would take up soon after the judges’ reinstatement through a resolution.

The sources said PPP had proposed that the chief justice’s tenure should be fixed at four years, but PML-N had so far given no response on this proposal.

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