ISLAMABAD, 15 March 2007 — The acting chief justice of Pakistan yesterday took action against the mishandling of the suspended chief justice by police on Tuesday and ordered an inquiry into the incident. Acting Justice Javed Iqbal said those found guilty of mishandling suspended Chief Justice Iftikhar Chaudhry would be brought to justice.
Chaudhry was suspended by President Pervez Musharraf on Friday and a reference against him was sent to the Supreme Judicial Council. Chaudhry has been charged with misusing his official authority.
Speaking to newsmen at the Supreme Court after administering the oath to the newly-inducted judge Hamid Ali Mirza, Justice Iqbal said a presidential reference has been filed against Chaudhry and it will be decided by the SJC whether he is guilty or innocent.
When asked why he agreed to take oath as the acting chief justice despite being a junior judge, he said his refusal to take the oath would have plunged the country into a judicial crisis.
Meanwhile, lawyers boycotted courts for a third day yesterday. A complete strike is being observed by lawyers throughout the country, Pakistan Bar Council President Qazi Anwar said.
In Karachi, hundreds of lawyers formed a human chain outside the Sindh Assembly building and warned Chief Minister Arbab Ghulam Rahim to stop issuing statements against Chaudhry.
A former judge of the Sindh High Court, Justice Rashid A. Rizvi, said, “We have come here to register our protest against the Sindh chief minister who has made derogatory statements against Chaudhry.”
Lawyers wearing black armbands and chanting anti-Musharraf slogans also staged rallies in cities, including Multan and Lahore, where opposition politicians joined in, witnesses said.
Anwar said lawyers would observe a token one-hour strike daily from today until the reinstatement of justice Chaudhry, while two lawyers at every bar in the country would observe a daylong hunger strike.
“We will end the strike and protests the moment Musharraf withdraws the decision and admits he made a mistake. The sooner he realizes it, the better it will be for him,” Anwar said.
Hundreds of lawyers staged unruly protests outside the Supreme Court in Islamabad on Tuesday when a judicial panel began a closed-door hearing on the charges of misconduct laid against Chaudhry. The next session is tomorrow.
The five-member SJC panel in a statement late Tuesday cautioned both the electronic and print media to refrain from commenting on the case.
But global media watchdog Reporters Without Borders condemned Pakistan’s Media Regulatory Authority for allegedly censoring coverage of lawyers being beaten by riot police in Lahore on Monday.
The Paris-based organization said the state-run body ordered cable and satellite providers to black out the private Aaj and Geo television stations after they screened the footage.
“We fear that, in this presidential election year, the independence of the media is going to be under attack from the government,” the watchdog said in a statement.
Reporters Without Borders said Pakistani Information Minister Mohammad Ali Durrani had denied any censorship.
Chaudhry’s suspension has enraged the country’s opposition parties ahead of parliamentary elections expected late this year.
In another development Prime Minister Shaukat Aziz who had gone to Uzbekistan on a three-day official visit and was to proceed to US on a 10-day leave was asked by President Musharraf to cut short his visit and return to Islamabad.
