Monday, March 16, 2009

King of Pakistani Judiciary


Iftikhar Muhammad Chaudhry (Urdu: افتخار محمد چودھری) (born 12 December 1948 in Quetta) is the current Chief Justice of Pakistan. His supporters insist that he is still the de jure Chief Justice. He was appointed as Chief Justice by Pakistani President Gen. Pervez Musharraf on May 7, 2005.[1] He was "suspended" by President General Musharraf on March 9, 2007, when he refused to oblige Musharraf by refusing to resign but was reinstated by an order of the Supreme Court on July 20, 2007. This was the first recorded case of such suspension in the history of Pakistan.
After having been elected as President for second term by the elected Parliament, Musharraf in November 2007 pre-empted an impending court decision against his re-election and suspended the
constitution and declared a state of emergency.[2] Justice Chaudhry reacted promptly, convening a seven-member bench which issued an already prepared interim order against this action.[3]
In March 2009, Nawaz Sharif and the Lawyers started a decisive movement to reinstate Chaudhry Iftikhar and other deposed Judges. Long March from all over the country was declared. Finally the Government reinstated Chaudhry Iftikhar and other deposed Judges on 16 March, 2009.
Lawyers, activists, and political workers particularly those from the PML-N, Tehrik-e-Insaaf, and Jamaat-e-Islaami were marching towards the Islamabad from all parts of Pakistan to stage a grand protest and sit-in at the Constitutional Avenue. The sit in was supposed to take place on the 16th of March 2009. The march commenced on 12th March, and picked up mass support as thousands of lawyers broke barricades and defied a government clampdown to march towards Islamabad. As the electrifying events in Lahore started to give dangerous signals of a near revolt, top military and civilian leaders went into a long session of discussion to defuse the situation. After a flurry of meetings between the President, Prime Minister and the Chief of Army Staf General Ashfaq Parvez Kayani, the government decided to restore Chaudhary Iftikhar.
"I announce today that Iftikhar Chaudhry and all other deposed judges will be reinstated from March 21," said Prime Minister Yousuf Raza Gilani in his televised address to the nation on PTV at 5:57 am PST.
Gilani said the federal government would file a review petition against the disqualification of the Sharif brothers. “I invite Sharif brothers to come forward to work together in the light of the Charter of democracy”.
The vast majority of the Pakistani public and the media welcomed the historic decision.

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