C O N F I D E N T I A L ISLAMABAD 002851

SIPDIS

E.O. 12958: DECL: 08/27/2018
TAGS: PGOV PREL KJUS PHUM PK
SUBJECT: PPP RESTORING JUDGES FROM THE BOTTOM UP

REF: A. ISLAMABAD 2532

B. ISLAMABAD 2642

Classified By: CDA Jerry Feierstein, for reasons 1.4 (b), (d)


1. (C) Summary: The Pakistan People's Party (PPP) has begun
to restore the judges deposed by then President Musharraf
last November, beginning with the Sindh High Court. Eight
of 15 deposed Sindh justices re-took the oath of office on
August 27. Restoration of the Lahore High Court judges could
follow in the next few days/weeks. This PPP move will
further split an increasingly fractured lawyers' movement but
demonstrates that PPP leader and presidential hopeful Asif
Zardari is fulfilling some of his long-delayed promises to
restore the judiciary. End summary.

Sindh Judges Restored
--------------


2. (U) Eight of 15 deposed judges of the Sindh High Court
returned to their seats on August 27 after a swearing in
ceremony at the Sindh Governor's house, according to CG
Karachi. The move to restore the sacked Sindh judges may
precipitate the restoration of Lahore High Court judges as
well, according to media reports which cited Law Ministry
sources.

Back-Room Maneuvers
--------------


3. (C) The PPP has been searching for a way to restore the
judiciary without restoring former Chief Justice Iftikhar
Chaudhry, who is presumed to be ready to invalidate the
immunity deal Musharraf made to protect Benazir Bhutto, Asif
Zardari and other politicians. Law Minister Farouk Naek has
been working for months to begin this process starting with
the provincial courts. In early August, he sent to then
President Musharraf a proposal to reinstate these eight Sindh
justices; Musharraf signed the order and made it public at a
critical juncture in negotiations between the Pakistan Muslim
League-Nawaz (PML-N) chief Nawaz Sharif and the PPP.


4. (C) Nawaz has been adamant that all the deposed
judiciary be reinstated and considered this PPP action a
betrayal, so he walked out of a then "make-or-break" meeting
with the PPP and forced a delay in the restoration. When
Nawaz broke with the coalition on August 25, he cited, among
other reasons, Zardari's duplicity in reneging on promises to
restore all the deposed judiciary. Two days after the
Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) pulled out of the ruling
coalition, Naek went forward with his original plan.


5. (U) The media reported the government will reinstate the
judges at the same seniority level they held when Musharraf
sacked them. Thus, Anwer Zaheer Jamali will be the new Chief
Justice of the Sindh High Court. However, some judges
reportedly want to ensure the government will restore the
entire judiciary. Specifically, Sindh Justice Sarmed Jalal
Usmani stated to the press he would not "accept any offer if
it excludes any judge sacked by the former President Pervez
Musharraf on November 3 last year."


6. (C) Comment: This PPP action will further exacerbate
splits within the Pakistani lawyers' movement, which is
increasingly divided over objections to Aitzaz Ahsan's
brinkmanship leadership style. Ahsan's latest threat is to
hold pro-judiciary demonstrations and block traffic in major
cities on August 28. Most importantly, the move to restore
Sindh judges will quickly demonstrate that Asif Zardari is
making good on some of his promises to restore the judiciary
ahead of the September 6 presidential election.

FEIERSTEIN