Islamabad - Pakistan's reinstated Chief Justice Iftikhar
Muhammad Chaudhry revived hopes for rule of law as he made history on
March 24, returning to the courtroom after a 16-month dismissal.
Chaudhry is the only Pakistani judge who fought off a military
ruler and an all-powerful civilian president - both determined to
bend the country's top court to their wishes - and prevailed.
'It's a matter of great satisfaction and a day of thanksgiving to
Allah the almighty that after a long period the original court has
been restored,' Chaudhry told a packed courtroom.
Chaudhry was born to a middle-class family in the south-western
city of Quetta in 1948 and studied law at a local university.
Following 11 years of legal practice and 20-year as a judge in
various courts, he was appointed chief justice of Supreme Court by
former military strongman Pervez Musharraf.
Within months of his appointment, Chaudhry won a reputation as a
man with time and sympathy for the common man, championing individual
cases, and working for the upholding of human rights.
The cases notably included those of hundreds of missing people
believed to have been rounded up without charge by intelligence
agencies, the heads of which Chaudhry summoned to the Supreme Court,
and cases of women gang raped in police custody.
And in a move that raised hackles in government, the court in
early 2007 ruled against the privatization of Pakistan Steel Mills to
government-connected businessmen, saying that the sale was done with
'indecent haste.' That brought enormous embarrassment for Musharraf's
government.
The independent-minded judge was seen by the public as a breath of
fresh air in a generally corrupt and outmoded justice system.
Largely devoid of charisma but seen as a symbolic victim of the
military regime's repression, Chaudhry rose on the crest of the
outrage in March 2007 when former president Pervez Musharraf
dismissed him following his refusal to resign.
It was the first time in the 60-year history of the country's
Supreme Court that a chief justice was sacked, and it triggered a
backlash of public anger and mass protests that caught Musharraf by
surprise.
Chaudhry's public appearances became the focus of opposition to
military rule. He attracted tens of thousands of people when he
travelled in a motor caravan from eastern city of Lahore to the
capital of Islamabad, forcing Musharraf to accept his restoration by
his colleagues in just over four months.
But he was removed again from the post, this time together with 60
other judges, on November 3, 2007 under an emergency order when the
Supreme Court was due to rule on Musharraf's eligibility to run for
re-election as president while remaining the army chief.
That sacking, widely criticized internationally, prompted a wider
movement for the restoration of democracy and resulted in the
defeat of Musharraf's political allies in February 2008 elections.
Musharraf was eventually forced to resign by the new civilian
coalition government within six months.
But the new civilian president, Asif Ali Zardari, the widower of
slain former prime minister Benazir Bhutto, reneged from his early
promises to restore Chaudhry - mainly out of fear that the judge
might renew graft cases against him.
That triggered a new movement by lawyers, rights activists, and
civil society. Zardari's coalition partner and two-time prime
minister Nawaz Sharif, whose party left the coalition last year on
the issue of Chaudhry's restoration, put his weight behind the
campaign early this month.
A high point in the movement for independent judiciary came when
Sharif led a massive rally from Lahore for a sit-in in Islamabad,
forcing the government to reinstate Chaudhry for the second time, in
order to avoid chaos in the capital city that could have brought down
Zardari's government.
Chaudhry, who is seen as a symbol of justice by some but as a sign
of conflict with other state institutions by opponents, faces a
difficult task ahead.
Rasool Bux Raees, a political analyst at Lahore University of
Management Sciences, said Chaudhry would have to avoid rulings that
could destabilize the government while delivering justice to common
people, many of whom see him as a saviour.
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