The Pakistani government has agreed to restore the deposed Chief Justice Iftikhar Muhammad Chaudhry soon, a local television reported early Monday morning.
"We are hopeful that the deposed chief justice will be restored shortly," Dawn TV channel quoted Chaudhry Nisar, a leader from the opposition party Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N), as saying.
Pakistani Prime Minister Yousaf Raza Gilani, who will address the nation shortly, is expected to announce restoration of the deposed chief justice through an executive order, reports said.
The government's decision came the same day when the "long march" led by PML-N chief Nawaz Sharif is due to arrive in Islamabad for sit-in to urge the government to restore the judges sacked in 2007 during a state of emergency.
The lawyers and political activists kicked off their "long march" on March 12.
Some 60 Supreme Court and High Courts judges were sacked in November 2007 when then-President Pervez Musharraf declared a state of emergency. Some of them took fresh oath of office while others including former Chief Justice Iftikhar Muhammad Chaudhry are yet to be restored.
(Xinhua News Agency March 16, 2009)