Islamabad - Pakistani President Asif Ali Zardari announced
the reinstatement of the country's sacked top judge and 10 others on
Tuesday, a day after yielding to country-wide protests by lawyers and
opposition parties amid a political standoff.
Presidential spokesman Farhatullah Babar said in a statement that
judge Iftikhar Chaudhry will assume office as chief justice of
Supreme Court on March 22, following the retirement of the current
top judge.
Ten more dismissed judges are also reinstated with immediate
effect, he was quoted as saying by the Dawn news channel. The
president has signed a notification forwarded to him by Prime
Minister Yousuf Raza Gilani, he added.
Chaudhry, along with more than 60 others, was fired in November
2007 by then-president and military strongman Pervez Musharraf, who
feared a verdict against his presidential candidacy.
Most of the judges rejoined the judicial set-up in the following
months after taking an oath under a controversial order by Musharraf,
but Chaudhry and 10 others rejected a fresh swearing-in because they
believed their dismissal was illegal.
The judges were not required to be sworn in again, the
government's top attorney Latif Khosa said. Babar said they will be
restored to their pre-November 2007 positions.
Gilani announced the reinstatement of all deposed judges early
Monday, pre-empting a huge crowd of protestors demanding the judges
return, who had crossed the eastern province of Punjab to end their
rally with a sit-in in the capital Islamabad.
The surprise decision came after an apparent push by the
governments of the United States and Britain, who were concerned
about the growing instability in Pakistan, a key western ally in the
fight against terrorism.
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