[JURIST] The Pakistan People's Party (PPP), which along with former prime minister Nawaz Sharif's Pakistan Muslim League (PML(N)) [party websites] will form Pakistan's new coalition government, vowed Tuesday to make Pakistan's judiciary fully independent. Asif Zardari [BBC profile], the new leader of the PPP and widower of former Pakistani Prime Minister Benazir Bhutto [BBC obituary; JURIST news archive], promised to strengthen the judiciary "by radically altering the mode of appointments of judges and [by] giving it financial and administrative independence."

Last week, the two main opposition parties agreed to work together [JURIST report] toward the reinstatement of former Pakistani Chief Justice Iftikhar Mohammed Chaudhry [JURIST news archive] and other superior court judges who were ousted [JURIST report] in November 2007 by Pakistani President Pervez Musharraf. AP has more.