ISLAMABAD, 11 March 2007 — Hundreds of angry lawyers took out noisy processions and boycotted courts in different parts of Pakistan yesterday against the sudden suspension of the country’s chief justice, sources said.
More than 100 lawyers boycotted courts proceedings in Quetta city yesterday, a day after President Pervez Musharraf suspended Chief Justice Iftikhar Chaudhry.
The lawyers rallied in Quetta as legal organizations met in major cities to discuss the removal of Chaudhry, a judge with a reputation for cracking down on government misdeeds and human rights abuses.
Lawyers in Lahore also boycotted court proceedings, while 200 lawyers rallied in Karachi, and burned an effigy of Musharraf outside the city’s main courts. They called the chief judge’s removal as “the murder of the independence of the judiciary in Pakistan.”
The national organization of lawyers met in Islamabad Saturday and decided a countrywide boycott of courts tomorrow.
“We demand immediate restoration of the chief justice, withdrawal of the case against him,” Pakistan Bar Council vice president Ali Ahmed Kurd said after the meeting.
He described the charges against Chaudhry as “politically motivated.” “There will be a complete boycott of courts throughout the country on Monday and Tuesday will be observed as a black day by the lawyers’ community.” Yesterday, Prime Minister Shaukat Aziz told reporters in Lahore that the action against Chaudhry was taken according to the law. He declined to comment further, saying the matter was before the Supreme Judicial Council.
However, hours after Chaudhry’s removal, Wasi Zafar, the federal minister for law, justice and human rights, told state media the chief justice had been made “nonfunctional.” Musharraf summoned Chaudhry to his office near Islamabad on Friday and asked him to resign for alleged misconduct, according to Amir Rana, a nephew of Chaudhry.
“He refused to do it,” Rana said.
Rana said Chaudhry was being victimized for political reasons. “The chief justice of Pakistan has been disgraced. He is being pressured to resign, and his movement has been restricted,” he said.
Meanwhile, troops were deployed outside Chaudhry’s residence and visitors were not allowed to meet him yesterday.
