The Papua New Guinea defence minister, Bob Dadae, says he hopes the courts can clear long outstanding pay issues affecting former servicemen.
Mr Dadae has told the Post Courier newspaper that the matter will only be pursued in the courts after a meeting with the office of the Attorney General.
He says ex-servicemen organised themselves into six to seven groups and included those in the pre-colonial era, those after independence and other ex-servicemen affected by the retrenchment exercise.
Mr Dadae says for this reason he has requested more than two judges from the Attorney General's office to attend to the matter which he says has been nagging at his ministry for more than seven years.