Newspapers and TV channels reported in the last couple of days about the reinstatement of eight Sindh High Court judges as a "surprise move by President Pervez Musharraf".

This initiative was not taken by the president.

The PPP took the initiative and Prime Minister after consultations with Law Ministry sent the summary to President to approve. President approved and sent the approval back to Prime Minister for implementation. These judges were going to take a new oath. The government issued the appropriate notification which was later withheld because Nawaz Sharif got angry that he was not consulted.

On Tuesday, the discussions which were going on between Nawaz Sharif and Asif Zardari at Zardari House were interrupted because Nawaz Sharif got angry and walked out, according to news. Later these discussion were moved to Punjab House and then to Prime Minister House when PPP agreed to defer the implementation of this decision till all the judges are reinstated.

The point to note is that according to the Constitution president does not have any authority to reject the recommendations of the prime minister. So President just followed the constitution. So this was not any maneuver of Pervez Musharraf. This was just another mismanagement of PPP government.