Pakistan to reinstate top judge, defusing crisis

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ISLAMABAD – Pakistan's government relented in a major confrontation with the opposition Monday, agreeing to reinstate a fired Supreme Court chief justice whose fate had sparked street fights and raised fears of political instability.
A dawn announcement by the prime minister that Iftikhar Mohammed Chaudhry would be sworn back in on March 21 capped a night of high drama and led activist lawyers to drop plans to march on the capital and stage a sit-in at Parliament later in the day.
The U.S. called the decision "statesmanlike," but it also was a significant concession that could weaken U.S.-allied President Asif Ali Zardari, who had long refused to restore the independent-minded Chaudhry despite demands by lawyers and opposition leader Nawaz Sharif. Already, attempts to quell the protest movement — through arrests and bans on rallies — have triggered cracks in the ruling party.
Prime Minister Yousuf Raza Gilani's announcement also promised the restoration of a handful of other judges who had remained off the bench since former President Pervez Musharraf sacked them in 2007. He further ordered the release of activists arrested over the past week and appealed for political reconciliation in Pakistan, a nuclear-armed nation that also faces an economic crisis.
Jubilant supporters waved flags and cheered outside Chaudhry's Islamabad home, and the grinning jurist briefly made an appearance on the balcony. Activists said the decision was a triumph for democracy, and the nation's stock market rallied in the morning."No country can progress without an independent judiciary and the government — by restoring the chief justice and other judges — has also realized it, and we think it is a big success," said Ali Ahmad Kurd, a leader of the protesting lawyers.
The concession came as thousands of protesters led by Sharif, a former prime minister and the head of the largest opposition party, were traveling to Islamabad to join the planned sit-in. Sharif joined the convoy after ignoring a house arrest order in his hometown of Lahore in Punjab province, where his supporters fought police.
Sharif thanked Zardari and Gilani after the announcement, but signaled his seemingly strengthened position by focusing on the future.
"From here, God willing, the fate of this nation will change," Sharif said, using a microphone from inside his jeep in Gujranwala as supporters mobbed it. "From here, a journey of development will start. From here, a revolution will come."
Musharraf fired Chaudhry in 2007 after he took up cases challenging his rule, sparking a wave of protests that helped force the military ruler from office in 2008. Overall, Musharraf sacked some 60 judges. Most have already been reinstated.
Zardari pledged to restore Chaudhry within 30 days of his party forming a government in spring 2008. But he reneged, apparently fearing Chaudhry might examine a deal that Zardari and his wife, slain politician Benazir Bhutto, struck with Musharraf to grant the pair immunity from prosecution over alleged corruption.
Zardari aide Farahnaz Ispahani said Monday the prime minister "recognized the mood of the people" and "agreed that it was in the country's best interest for stability" to restore Chaudhry.
She said the matter had languished because the government had more pressing concerns — including reviving the economy and tackling the terror threat.
"Instead of weakening the government or the president or prime minister it has actually strengthened the government," Ispahani insisted. "We have taken the issue away from those who wanted to use mob violence and intimidation. We have taken the country out of the political crisis in an extremely mature and political way."
Sharif initially entered into a coalition government with Zardari's party but switched to the opposition over the judges' issue.
Last month, the Supreme Court ruled that Sharif and his brother Shahbaz were ineligible for elected office. Zardari then dismissed the government led by Shahbaz in Punjab, the most powerful Pakistani province.
A furious Sharif accused Zardari of a power grab and urged his supporters to join lawyers and other activists planning to march on the capital, re-energizing what had been a limping movement.
Gilani repeated a pledge made Saturday to appeal the verdict over the Sharif's eligibility to the Supreme Court.
The Zardari-Sharif showdown raised the prospect of a military intervention in a country prone to military coups. The powerful army chief, Gen. Ashfaq Parvez Kayani, met with Zardari — who has stayed largely out of public view in recent weeks — as the crisis unfolded over the past few days, though officials would not detail their discussion.
Western capitals were concerned the crisis was distracting Pakistan from its fight against Taliban and al-Qaida militants operating along the Afghan border. U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton had urged Zardari and Sharif to strike a deal.
The U.S. Embassy in Islamabad issued a statement welcoming Monday's announcement.
"This is a statesmanlike decision taken to defuse a serious confrontation, and the apparent removal of this long-standing national issue is a substantial step towards national reconciliation," it said.
For days, the government tried to thwart the protest march — banning rallies, detaining hundreds of activists, putting the army on alert, and barricading the capital. The moves, which sparked clashes between Sharif supporters and police over the weekend, echoed Musharraf's responses to the lawyers' back in 2007. ___
Associated Press writers Babar Dogar in Lahore, Zarar Khan in Gujranwala, and Nahal Toosi, Munir Ahmad and Asif Shahzad in Islamabad contributed to this report.

Iftikhar Muhammad Chaudhry (Urdu: افتخار محمد چودھری)

Iftikhar Muhammad Chaudhry (Urdu: افتخار محمد چودھری) (born 12 December 1948 in Faislabad) was the 20th 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. 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. Justice Chaudhry reacted promptly, convening a seven-member bench which issued an already prepared interim order against this action.

Arrest

After the imposition of emergency and suspension of constitution, Chaudhry constituted an eight-member bench of Supreme Court judges duly headed by himself, and immediately quashed the provisional constitution order, declaration of emergency and the suspension of the constitution, and ordered all civil and military personnel to ignore the order. He also ordered all the chief justices of high courts and judges of the Supreme Court and High Court not to take oath under the PCO. Soon after, on November 3, the Supreme Court was stormed by the 111th brigade of the Pakistan Army and Chaudhry was arrested along with seven other judges. Musharraf replaced Justice Chaudhry with Abdul Hameed Dogar as the de facto chief justice of Pakistan and also administered the oath of office to three other judges of the supreme court under the PCO. Justice Dogar later took a fresh oath on the constitution after it was restored and the PCO withdrawn.

Chaudhry's house was sealed and he was allowed limited visitors and no one met him officially until the new Prime Minister Yousaf Raza Gillani ordered to uplift the house arrest on his first day of premiership. However, he continued to denounce Musharraf's declaration of emergency and vowed to push for a return to the rule of law.[14] .


On 15 November Geo News reported that Chaudhry had ordered the Islamabad Inspector General of Police to take action against his and his family’s house arrest and their possible removal to Quetta. According to the channel, Chaudhry held the interior secretary, the commissioner, the deputy commissioner and the assistant commissioner responsible for his house arrest. He said he was still the Chief Justice of Pakistan and the official residence was his by right.

On 18 November in a letter to prominent English-language newspaper The News he wrote: "I will fight till the last drop of my blood to save the Constitution of Pakistan and so will resist any move to deport me to some far-flung area with the intention to separate me from the lawyers and the Pakistani citizens".

In February 2008, Chaudhry wrote an open letter to President Musharraf from house arres

Suo moto notice

In response to wide spread public outcry and call for action the Chief Justice of Pakistan took a suo moto action against the privatisation citing irregularities in the process. The verdict was delivered on August 8, 2008.

The Supreme Court on August 8, 2008 held that the entire disinvestment process of the Pakistan Steel Mills reflected a haste, ignoring profitability aspect and assets of the mills by the financial adviser before its evaluation. The transaction was the outcome of a process reflecting procedural irregularities, said the 80-page judgment in the PSM case.

On June 23, a nine-member bench of the Supreme Court had annulled the sale of the country’s largest industrial unit to a three-party consortium and had directed the government to refer the matter to the Council of Common Interests within six weeks. It had declared the $362 million transaction with the Russian-Saudi-Pakistan investors as null and void.

Authored by Chief Justice of Pakistan Justice Iftikhar Mohammad Chaudhry, the judgment said the entire exercise reflected a haste by the Privatisation Commission (PC) and the Cabinet Committee on Privatisation (CCOP). The PC had processed the March 30 final report of the financial adviser the same day and a meeting of the PC board and a summary had also been prepared the same day when a six week time was mandatory to examine and fix a fair reference price for approval by the CCOP.

“This unexplained haste caste reasonable doubt on the transparency of the whole exercise and reflects CCOP’s disregard towards mandatory rules and materials, essential for arriving at a fair reference price,” it maintained.

The board had proposed to value the share of the mill at Rs17.43 but it was reduced to Rs16.18 without assigning any reason, the verdict said. The verdict said that keeping in view the annual net profit of the mill, its shares’ value should have been ascertained by offering 10 per cent equity of the mills on the stock exchange.

“A constitutional court would be failing in its duty if it does not interfere to rectify the wrong, more so when valuable assets of the nation are at stake,” the judgment said.


In May 2006, the government of General Musharraf privatised Pakistan Steel Mills. The consortium involving Saudi Arabia-based Al Tuwairqi Group of Companies submitted a winning bid of $362 million for a 75 per cent stake in Pakistan Steel Mills Corporation (PSMC) at an open auction held in Islamabad. the consortium of Saudi Arabia-based Al Tuwairqi Group of Companies, Russia's Magnitogorsk Iron & Steel Works and local firm Arif Habib Securities paid a total Rs21.6 billion ($362 million), or Rs16.8 per share, to take control of Pakistan's largest steel manufacturing plant.

Tuwairqi Group of Companies, one of the Ieading business concerns in Saudi Arabia, also launched a $300 million steel mills project at Bin Qasim. The group will set up Tuwairqi Steel Mills (TSM), a state-of-the-art steel-making plant in the southern port city of Pakistan.

Missing people

Many people in Pakistan had been allegedly kidnapped by the American agencies (FBI, CIA) and Pakistani agencies (ISI, MI, IB) in pursuance of the "War on Terror." These people were arrested without any warrant or court order and denied any access to counsel as enshrined in the Constitution of Pakistan. These actions were challenged in the Supreme Court and a bench under the Chief Justice Iftikhar Muhammad Chaudhry took up the case. The complainants in the matter headed by Ms Amina Masood Janjua representing 254 missing persons and their families pleaded that the persons concerned be presented in front of a magistrate in line with the law and be given a trial.

The controversy over the matter increased after police baton charged demonstrators demanding released of their kin, stripping off demonstrators in the process which was pasted across the national newspapers increasing resentment against the government. The Supreme Court had the Ministry of Interior and the representatives of the military agencies directed to appear in the court and answer the issues raised causing ripples in Pakistan's powerful establishment .

As the case proceeded, the revelations during the proceedings increased public outrage on the matter. The government eventually released 107 missing persons, who narrated their stories of torture and solitary confinements at the hands of Pakistan 'law enforcement agencies', as well as names of others imprisoned with them.

It also became evident that most of the persons were detained for alleged links with the Secular Separatist insurgency in Balochistan and not Al Qaeda, also that many of detainees were there for personal differences ranging from property disputes to Imran Munir's case whereby he refused to marry the daughter of an Army General.

The case is being pleaded by Fakhruddin G. Ebrahim and Asma Jahangir from the Human Rights Commission of Pakista

Suspension and reinstatement

On March 9, 2007, Chaudhry was suspended by Pakistani President Pervez Musharraf. Musharraf also filed a Presidential reference against Chaudhry for misconduct.

The suspension of Chaudhry was the first time in the 50-year history of the Pakistani Supreme Court that a Chief Justice was suspended. The court under Chief Justice Chaudhry had made rulings against governmental corruption, including the Pakistan Steel Mills case. The court had started taking suo moto notice in all walks of governance starting from prices of vegetables, song's lyrics to traffic congestion and made the executive totally ineffective.

After the event, there was unrest in the country with regard to the validity of the allegations against Chaudhry, as well as doubt as to whether Musharraf actually had the power to suspend the Chief Justice under the circumstances.

On May 5, 2007, Chaudhry with his brother in law and best supporter Ahtazaz Ahmed who is also the party member of PPP traveled from Islamabad to Lahore to address the Lahore High Court Bar Association. Demonstrations of support along the route slowed his motorcade to the point that it took him 25 hours to reach the dinner the Association was holding in his honor.This journey usually takes 4-5 hours on average.[citation needed] Demonstrators chanted not only slogans supporting Chaudrhy, but also openly called for Musharraf to step down. In his speech he criticized dictatorship and emphasized on the important of the rule of law.


Public supporting Chief Justice in capital city of Islamabad.On July 20, 2007, Chaudhry was reinstated to his position as Chief Justice in a ruling by the thirteen-member bench of Pakistani Supreme Court which also cleared him of the misconduct reference filed against him by Musharraf without even considering or investigating the allegations leveled against the Chief Justice. The ruling combined 25 constitutional petitions filed by Chaudhry and other interested parties, but referred most of the issues raised by the 24 petitions not filed by Chaudhry himself to lower courts for extended adjudication. All thirteen of the sitting justices agreed that Musharraf's action had been illegal, and ten of the thirteen ordered Chaudhry was to be reinstated and that he "shall be deemed to be holding the said office and shall always be deemed to have been so holding the same." It is also important to note that the lawyers of Musharraf tendered an unconditional apology for submitting frivilous documents in support of the alleged charges and the Federal Government was fined Rs. 100,000.

HLS Medal of Freedom

In the wake of the imposition of emergency rule in Pakistan, on November 14, 2007, the Harvard Law School Association decided to award its highest honour, the Medal of Freedom, to Justice Iftikhar Chaudhry, following the military crackdown the previous week. He becomes the first Pakistani to be presented with such honour.

The Harvard Law School Medal of Freedom is given to selected personalities for their contributions to freedom, justice, and equality. Only two other people have been awarded this honor. The first was Charles Hamilton Houston, an African American lawyer and NAACP Litigation Director who helped play a role in dismantling the Jim Crow laws and helped train future Supreme Court justice Thurgood Marshall. Former South African President Nelson Mandela is the second.

As Iftikhar Chaudhry was under house arrest at that time, the school held a grand ceremony to award the medal hoping that its recipient will soon be released and allowed to attend. The same statement announcing the award identified Chaudhry as Pakistan’s chief justice and not as a deposed or former judge.

Chief Justice Iftikhar Chaudhry formally received the Harvard Law School Medal of Freedom during his visit to the United States in November, 2008.

Confusion between Dejure & Defacto

There have been several instances where certain people have marked and/or referred to the current Chief Justice of Pakistan Abdul Hameed Dogar as the Defacto Chief Justice of Pakistan, and referred to Iftikhar Muhammad Chaudhry as the legal and/or current Chief Justice of Pakistan.

Justice Dogar was elevated to the position of Chief Justice of Pakistan on 3 November 2007 and he was offered to take an oath on the Provisional Constitution Order (PCO) which replaced the Constitution like Iftikhar Muhammad Chaudhry who took a similar oath on the PCO in 2000 and was elevated to the Chief Justice position. The oaths taken by Chief Justice Iftikhar however, were accorded constitutional status under the 17th Constitutional Amendment passed by parliament of Pakistan on 29 December 2004. Such ratification is yet to be accorded to oaths taken by Justice Dogar.

As with Iftikhar Muhammad Chaudhry, Justice Dogar later took a fresh oath according to article 178 of the Constitution on 15 November 2007, thus making him the legal and dejure Chief Justice of Pakistan.Under the Constitution of the Islamic Republic of Pakistan a state of emergency can only be declared by the president. Instead of the president the emergency was declared by the army chief, thus there was no emergency declared at all.