The Sindh Governor on Wednesday swore eight deposed judges after their “re-employment” giving a fresh twist to the movement for restoration of judges sacked by Pervez Musharraf on November 3.

Law minister Farooq Naik said other judges could also return to the bench by taking fresh oath. He, however, said chief justice Iftikhar Chaudhry’s case was a complicated issue.

He could neither be “re-employed nor restored” because another chief justice Hameed Dogar holds this office at present and there could be no two chief justices.

“We are facing a constitutional crisis and will have to sit and resolve it through negotiations instead of taking to streets,” Farooq said.

Lawyers and deposed judges have been maintaining that Musharraf had sacked them unconstitutionally and they continued to be legal judges who were made dysfunctional. An executive order was needed to restore them.

Attoreny-General Latif Khosa confirmed the common perception that PPP co-chairman Asif Zardari does not want to restore Justice Iftikhar.

The installation of eight deposed judges of the Sindh High Court was received with dismay and frustration by top leaders of the lawyers’ movement ahead of their planned countrywide sit-ins on Thursday.

The successful move by the PPP-led government to woo several judges and lawyers away from the mainstream legal fraternity signaled crumbling resistance of the movement for unconditional restoration of deposed judges. More judges from Lahore are also poised to follow the path of their Sindh HC colleagues.

Zardari is likely to ‘invite” in his inaugural address after election, all deposed judges to rejoin the superior courts and take fresh oath.

While Iftikhar would have to accept the formulation under which Zardari will administer oath to him, other judges would take oath from respective chief justices.

Retired Justice Wajihuddin Ahmed, former presidential candidate, likened the government plan to a “civilian PCO” under which the judiciary would be purged of independent judges while putting the onus on those who refuse to fall in this trap.

He said the new judiciary would be swarmed by previous PCO judges led by present chief justice Hameed Dogar outnumbering the deposed ones.

Aitzaz Ahsan, president of the Supreme Court Bar Association who has hitherto led the lawyers’ movement for last one-and-half years, said he was shocked and disappointed the way some deposed judges have bowed to pressure and temptation by taking fresh oath after long resistance.

Their appointment means justifying dismissal by Musharraf as constitutional. Aitzaz vowed to continue the movement for restoration and not re-employment of judges.