Pakisran’s new Government made its first legislative move to reverse President Pervez Musharraf state of emergency dictates, introducing a bill on Friday to lift curbs on the media.

Promising more to come, it was a rare upbeat moment in a week plagued by factional violence and signs of cracks emerging in the four-party ruling coalition that emerged from February 18 parliamentary elections.

And tougher work looms ahead as the coalition tries to make good on promises to curtail Musharraf’s clout, review his US-backed policies against terrorism and shore up the faltering economy.

Reinstating senior judges purged last year by the former military strongman has been the main commitment holding together the coalition, which took office last week. But how to do that already is creating dissension.

The parties of slain ex-leader Benazir Bhutto and another former prime minister, Nawaz Sharif, have promised to bring back the judges through a parliamentary resolution by the end of this month. But Sharif’s party wants them restored immediately, while Bhutto’s party wants a comprehensive judicial reform package.

Tackling the media restrictions provided a relatively quick and easy victory. Information Minister Sherry Rehman said a bill was put before parliament on Friday to repeal “black laws” imposed after Musharraf declared emergency rule on November 3 last year. “This is a gift from the government, but not arbitrarily, because you have done a lot of struggle for this,” Rehman told a news conference after the bill was sent to committee.

“This is our first step. We will do more for the independence of media, both electronic and print, in the days to come,” she said, and added that 10 clauses would be repealed, ending the power of the Pakistan Electronic Media Regulatory Authority to seal a network’s premises, seize equipment, revoke an operating license arbitrarily, issue crippling fines for violation of the industry’s code of conduct, and curb live coverage.

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