Law Minister Farooq Naik says all the sacked judges of the superior courts who had declined to take a fresh oath will be paid their pensions and other dues. “All those judges of the superior courts who did not take oath under the Provisional Constitutional Order (PCO) promulgated by former president Pervez Musharraf on November 3 last year, had been offered a fresh oath under Schedule 3 of the constitution by the Pakistan People's Party-led coalition government,” the law minister told the reporters. Naik said almost all the sacked judges had taken a fresh oath. However, a few of the sacked judges also declined to take the fresh oath offered by the government, and attained the age of superannuation during the period of their sacking. They would be treated as retired judges and would be given pension as well as other post-retirement benefits. To a question, he said the process of paying pension and other dues to the retired judges of the superior courts would be initiated when the judges would so desire. Naik said the judges of the superior judiciary who did not take oath under the PCO virtually stood retired on November 3, 2007 and not sacked or deposed. He said they were being wrongly portrayed as sacked judges. He said several amendments had been proposed in the Frontier Crimes Regulations (FCR). He said the FCR would now be called Federally Administered Tribal Areas (FATA) Regulations (FR). Under the FR, only those who commit a crime would be punished. Naik said the old practice to punish the whole family of the accused would end with the promulgation of the FR, adding the accused would also be given the right of bail and appeal. __
