The month-long cacophony over how to restore Pakistan's superior judges who were sacked by President Pervez Musharraf last November has ended in confusion.
The Pakistani media that shouted itself hoarse over the issue, often taking sides, has spent the last two days asking more questions than there are answers to give.
The general impression is that by deciding to restore these judges through a parliamentary resolution, the country's new ruling alliance has only managed to avoid an early split.
The Pakistan Muslim League Nawaz (PML-N), one of the main coalition partners, has been an ardent supporter of the idea of pushing a resolution through the parliament which will recommend to the federal government to restore the judges through an executive order.
It argues that such an order will have the force of public opinion behind it, and would override President Musharraf's order of 3 November 2007, through which he imposed emergency rule and sacked the judges.
As soon as such an order is issued, goes the argument, the status quo ante would stand restored.
Although the PML-N has not said it in so many words, the party leaders have indicated that such a development can pave the way for the impeachment of President Musharraf on grounds that he acted illegally to save his position.
Mr Musharraf clamped emergency rule in November just when the top judiciary was hearing a challenge to his re-election as president.
His move was widely interpreted as an attempt to forestall an adverse verdict.
The judges were quick to order an injunction against this move, but they were sacked and replaced by another set of judges who validated President Musharraf's action as well as a slew of constitutional amendments he introduced later to provide himself legal cover.
Gradual approach
The senior partner in the new coalition, the Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP), has a different take on the issue.
While it supports the restoration of judges in principle, it believes only parliamentary legislation can override the Supreme Court decisions of last November.
The party argues that under the law the court can pass an injunction against an executive order, and keep it in force pending a final decision on the legality of such an order.
But unlike President Musharraf, who forced the judges out despite an injunction, some PPP circles fear that such action on part of the present government may not have the backing of important power centres in the country, notably the army.
As such, the party believes the government should move slowly against President Musharraf's interests, and should act through the parliament whenever it does.
It has offered to introduce a comprehensive constitutional package that will cut the president's powers of sacking the government and of appointing top state officials such as provincial governors and services chiefs.
In order to put such a package through the parliament, the party has been building alliances with former friends and foes alike.
Some observers believe it was the PPP's need to form a wider alliance of democratic forces that convinced it last March to agree to PML-N's demand of restoring the judges before the end of April.
Delay predicted
Since then, the issue appears to have blown into a one-point agenda for everybody concerned - the government, the lawyers' movement which has been conducting an emotional campaign for the restoration of judges, civil society groups as well as the media.
PML-N seems to have carried the day after three rounds of talks in Dubai, persuading the PPP to agree to the judges' restoration through a parliamentary resolution, followed by an executive order.
This has now sparked a new debate in the country over whether this can be done.
PPP insiders say that during talks in Dubai, PPP co-chair Asif Zardari expressed doubts over the ability of the government to enforce such an executive order, given that the army still stood behind President Musharraf.
Even if the order were enforced, say analysts, new questions would crop up over the legality of the entire post-3 November system, including the February elections and the parliament that came into being as a result.
There appears to be general consensus among the analysts that a resolution may be pushed through the parliament merely as a face-saving device for the coalition partners.
They expect the judges to be restored at some point, but say it will be some time before all irritants are removed and they can take up their seats on the bench.
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