ISLAMABAD, 17 May 2007 — Lawyers for the Pakistani government asked the Supreme Court yesterday to throw out a petition by the country’s top judge against his suspension, which has provoked a wave of deadly protests.
President Pervez Musharraf suspended chief justice Iftikhar Chaudhry on March 9 on misconduct charges, including that he had abused his position to get top police jobs for his son.
The Supreme Court on Monday began a hearing into Chaudhry’s petition, in which he has challenged his suspension as well as a judicial inquiry into misconduct charges by a panel of five senior judges called the Supreme Judicial Council.
“This petition is not competent and the Supreme Judicial Council cannot be questioned in a court,” chief government lawyer Syed Sharifuddin Pirzada, who is representing Musharraf, told the court.
Pirzada said that Musharraf is immune from legal action under the Pakistani constitution, therefore he cannot be named as a respondent in Chaudhry’s legal application. “The president cannot be sued. His name should be deleted from the petition and the reference (charges referred by Musharraf to the Supreme Judicial Council) cannot be challenged,” Pirzada told the 13-member bench. He told the court that under Article 248 of the constitution, the president, prime minister, governors and federal ministers were not accountable to the Supreme Court.
Pakistan’s Attorney-General Makhdoom Ali Khan said that the petition to the Supreme Court is redundant because it raises issues that are already pending in the judicial council. The court later adjourned until today when more government lawyers are due to speak.
Chaudhry’s lawyers contend that it is unconstitutional for Musharraf to suspend a chief justice and they have also raised objections that three of the five judges on the Supreme Judicial Council are biased against him.
Indo-Pak Talks Today
India and Pakistan are likely to discuss the disputed Sir Creek estuary during talks in Rawalpindi today. The two countries have conducted joint survey of the Sir Creek marshlands.
An Indian delegation led by Maj. Gen. Gopal Rao will hold talks with the Pakistani team to be led by Rear Adm. Tanvir Faiz.
The joint survey was conducted for the re-demarcation of maritime zones.
The dispute over the estuary has prevented the two countries from offshore oil and gas exploration.
US Pledges Support to Musharraf
Pakistan’s support is crucial to NATO allies’ efforts to bring stability to Afghanistan, and the United States will continue to back President Pervez Musharraf, a US envoy visiting Islamabad said yesterday.
“I don’t think that President Musharraf has reached the end of his line,” said Ronald E. Neumann, who until a month ago was American ambassador in Kabul and is now on a mission to Central Asian states to explain the situation and strategy in Afghanistan.
“He seems to be a leader who is capable of many good things, which is why we have given him a great deal of support, and plan to give more support,” he told journalists in a briefing in Islamabad.
Neumann did not mention Musharraf’s domestic woes. The Pakistani leader is under mounting pressure after plunging the country into a judicial crisis by trying to sack the top judge two months ago. Asked whether the US administration was frustrated by the rarity of Pakistan’s arrests of senior Taleban figures, Neumann replied: “We all need to do more. That’s what we’re asking for.”
