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Islamabad: The party leading Pakistan's new coalition is drafting a constitutional package likely to sideline Iftikhar Chaudhry, the recently freed judge whose defiance of President Pervez Musharraf made him a cause celebre.
Strains in the less-than-two-week-old coalition are foreseen when the Pakistan People's Party (PPP) submits its wide-ranging proposals for scrutiny, a move expected as soon as next week.
The PPP, led by the late Benazir Bhutto's widower Asif Ali Zardari, is honour bound to reinstate Chaudhry as Supreme Court Chief Justice, and restore other judges Musharraf dismissed when he imposed six-weeks of emergency rule in November.
Last month Zardari signed an accord with Nawaz Sharif, the prime minister Musharraf overthrew in a military coup in 1999, to pass a resolution to bring back all the judges within 30 days of forming a government, which means it should happen by end-April.
Pakistan's new political order will thank Chaudhry for precipitating the political shift that led to the defeat of pro-Musharraf parties in February's parliamentary poll, reinstate him and then try to wave him goodbye, analysts and others said.
"Restoration will redeem his honour," said a senior PPP official in government. "But this is about reforming the judiciary, not making heroes out of people."
However, reforms that dump Chaudhry will be hard-sell in a coalition founded on the premise all judges would be restored.
Forcing Chaudhry into early retirement could go some way to defusing a potentially explosive situation.
"The other option is not to remove him, but to reduce his personal power," a PPP official said.
"If there is any compromise then there are serious threats to the coalition," Chaudhry Nisar Ali Khan, Senior Minister from Sharif's Pakistan Muslim League said, adding that for now "all is well".
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