Minister: Pakistan's parliament to decide on deposed judges

ISLAMABAD, April 2 (Xinhua) -- Pakistan's law minister Farooq Naik said on Wednesday that the lower parliament will decide on the restoration of judges deposed by President Pervez Musharraf last year.

"The National Assembly will decide the fate of deposed judges," said Naik in an interview with private Dawn TV channel.

President Musharraf sacked the Chief Justice and other top judges after he imposed emergency on Nov. 3, 2007.

However, the new Prime Minister Yousuf Raza Gillan issued an administrative order to release the judges under house arrest immediately after he was elected as prime minister on March 24.

The new Pakistani government also set up a special committee on the reinstatement of the deposed judges on Monday when the first batch of 24 cabinet ministers took office.

The committee, headed by Naik, can be seen as a major step to materialize the joint declaration of the coalition parties of Pakistan People's Party (PPP) and Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N).

The two parties agreed in March to reinstate the deposed judges within 30 days of the formation of new government.