ISLAMABAD, 29 March 2007 — Pakistan’s suspended top judge yesterday called for the protection of judicial independence in his first public speech since his removal by President Pervez Musharraf. Military ruler Musharraf’s regime has been rocked by a series of protests and strikes by the legal fraternity and opposition groups since he dismissed Chief Justice Iftikhar Muhammad Chaudhry on March 9.
“A society without justice cannot endure even in Islamic states. But societies with no faith can survive with justice,” said the nonfunctional chief justice while addressing the Bar Association of the Rawalpindi Bench of Lahore High Court. “The judiciary has to stand out as a strong entity that people can trust and have confidence in,” he told a gathering of more than 2,000 lawyers in Rawalpindi.
Chaudhry, who read from a prepared speech, said he would not comment explicitly on misconduct charges laid against him by Musharraf, including that he got unfair promotions for his son. “Neither will I deliver a political speech nor am I going to comment on the reference” to Pakistan’s Supreme Judicial Council by Musharraf, he said to a standing ovation lasting several minutes.
However, he praised the lawyers’ community and several senior and junior judges who resigned recently in an expression of solidarity with him. A convoy of lawyers in some 50 vehicles followed Chaudhry as he was driven to the meeting from his house in Islamabad.
Chaudhry was made nonfunctional on March 9 and the Supreme Judicial Council was charged to apportion various allegations leveled against him by a lawyer Naeem Bukhari, one chief minister and certain bureaucrats. Allegations include misuse of authority and misconduct.
Chaudhry said “my agenda is not politics but I want to see that state institutions do not transgress. Every institution, the judiciary, legislature and the executive function within their respective domains.”
Meanwhile, an inquiry commission constituted by the Supreme Court headed by the Peshawar High Court Senior Judge Justice Ijaz Afzal Khan initiated probe into manhandling of Chaudhry on March.13. So far the commission has recorded statements of a few journalists who had reported the event. The commission intends to preview footage of all the TV channels and record statements of police officials, journalists and functionaries of federal administration.
“Terms of reference of the inquiry commission were to trace the hidden hand which ordered manhandling of the chief justice,” Afzal told Arab News yesterday. When asked, do you recognize Justice Iftikhar Chaudhry as the chief justice of Pakistan, he said, “so far we recognize him as the chief justice no matter he is nonfunctional. It will be the SJC to decided after complete hearing whether he is innocent or guilty.”
