ISLAMABAD: The government is likely to issue a notification for the reinstatement of eight deposed judges of the Sindh High Court (SHC) today, sources in the Ministry of Law and Justice said.

The summary for the restoration of eight deposed judges of the SHC had already been signed by former president Pervez Musharraf. However, on the objection of PML-N chief Mian Muhammad Nawaz Sharif, Prime Minister Syed Yousuf Raza Gilani had stopped the issuance of the notification.Sources said the oath-taking ceremony of the sacked judges was also likely to be held today (Wednesday). They said although the judges would take a fresh oath, yet they would be restored to their pre-November 3, 2007 position.

Sources disclosed that the deposed judge Justice Anwar Zaheer Jamali would take oath as the SHC chief justice. The other deposed judges being reinstated are justices Khilji Arif Hussain, Ameer Hani Muslim, Faisal Arab, Sajjad Ali Shah, Zafar Ahmed Sherwani, Salman Ansari and Abdur Rashid Kalorh.

The sources further said that a proposal suggesting an increase in the strength of the SHC judges from 28 to 40 had also been placed before the government and there could be some development on the issue today. They said a summary for the reinstatement of seven deposed judges of the Lahore High Court (LHC) was also being prepared and a notification in this regard could be issued within a few days. They said the judges could be administered oath before the presidential election.

Meanwhile, despite repeated attempts, no senior concerned official of the government was ready to offer comments on the judges’ restoration. Senior government officials, including Law Minister Farooq H Naek and newly-appointed Attorney General Senator Latif Khosa on Tuesday gave different statements on the restoration of the deposed judges.

Naek, while talking to newsmen, said the government was committed to reinstate all the deposed judges of the superior judiciary. However, Attorney General Senator Latif Khosa told a private TV channel said that PPP Co-chairman Asif Ali Zardari was not in favour of reinstating deposed chief justice Iftikhar Muhammad Chaudhry.