Islamabad, November 12:

Pakistan’s government is hunting for three more judges to fill the Supreme Court — and help end a legal drama that is deepening the country’s political crisis.

The problem for the authorities is finding judges who are ready to accept a job that would mean effectively endorsing the state of emergency.

The search is crucial, because the Supreme Court must rule on the validity of President Pervez Musharraf’s re-election in an October 6 vote.

Only then will the military ruler, who grabbed power in a coup eight years ago, resign as head of the powerful army and swear the oath of presidential office as a civilian, meeting a key demand of his critics at home and abroad.

Farooq H Naik, a leading lawyer, said the main problem was finding judges who would agree to be sworn in under the emergency legislation that Musharraf issued as army chief.

“Lawyers feel reluctant, because they regard emergency rule and the provisional constitutional order as illegal and unconstitutional,” he told AFP.

When Musharraf imposed emergency rule on November 3, he cited a meddlesome judiciary along with Islamic militancy as his reasons.

One of the first things he did was ask the 17 Supreme Court judges to swear a fresh oath.

Twelve of them, including Chief Justice Iftikhar Muhammad Chaudhry, refused to do so and were sacked, leaving only five.

The government quickly found four more, and decided to reduce the overall number of Supreme Court judges to 12, but has struggled to find the remaining three to fill the bench.

Attorney general Malik Muhammad Qayyum said two others were in the process of being appo-inted and likely to take the oath tomorrow, leaving one space.

He said he was hopeful the court would be able to hear the legal challenges against Musharraf’s re-election next week, meaning he would still not be able to quit as army chief until at least then.

“The court may resume hearing the case from next week,” Qayyum said.

Qayyum said the reason for cutting the number of Supreme Court judges from 17 to 12 was that it was difficult to find good ones.

“Moreover,” he added, “it looks awkward to have so many judges.” Other lawyers however are more sceptical. “No lawyer would like to damage his reputation by taking an oath as a judge under emergency rule, which flouted the constitution and suspended fundamental rights of people,” one young lawyer said on condition of anonymity.

He said it was “illegal and unconstitutional” to sack judges, adding they could only be removed if they were found to be mentally unfit.

Pakistani opposition leaders and the international community has demanded that Chaudhry and other sacked judges be reinstated, but Musharraf ruled that out Sunday, saying they had forfeited their jobs by refusing to take the new oath.