Pakistan

Sacked Chief Justice joins reinstatement protest

Article published on the 2008-05-31 Latest update 2008-06-02 08:30 TU

Chaudhry leaves his residence on Saturday
(Photo: Reuters)

Pakistan's sacked Chief Justice, Iftikhar Muhammad Chaudhry, headed for Peshawar from his Islamabad home on Saturday. Chuadhry rode at the head of a car cavalcade, demanding he be reinstated, along with the 60-odd other judges dismissed by President Pervez Musharraf last year. The city's Bar Association is meeting as part of the campaign to force the government to keep its promise to give the judges their jobs back, a pledge which has plunged the coalition government into crisis.

Chaudhry is assured of a warm welcome in Peshawar, as elsewhere. He became a hero to lawyers and civil rights campaigners last year when Musharraf fired him twice, and he toured the country speaking to angry supporters before he was put under house arrest.

Those boisterous protests look set to start again.

The government elected last February, led by the People's Party (PPP) of assassinated former Prime Minister Benazir Bhutto, was pledged to reinstate Chaudhry and other judges who had refused to comply with Musharraf's state of emergency late last year.

But two months later, they have not yet kept that promise and the Muslim League-N, led by another former Prime Minister, Nawaz Sharif, recently pulled out of the cabinet because of a lack of progress on the matter.

Meanwhile, rumours abound that Musharraf is under pressure to quit. Sharif called for him to resign last week, but PPP leaders have not publicly made such a call.

Peshawar correspondent Behroz Khan told RFI that despite a recent show of support by US President George Bush, Musharraf is increasingly isolated.

"[If] the ruling coalition partners agree to restore the judges, then there will be little room for President Musharraf to stay in power any more," he said.