On Friday March 9th, 2007 President General Pervez Musharraf virtually suspended the Chief Justice of Pakistan, Justice Iftikhar Mohammad Chaudhry, and appointed the available senior-most judge, Justice Javed Iqbal, as the acting Chief Justice of the Supreme Court
The charges against Justice Iftikhar Mohammad Chaudhry are totally vague. Here is what the Associated Press of Pakistan (state run) reported although the report did not specify what the judge was accussed of.
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- Musharraf had received "numerous complaints and serious allegations for misconduct, misuse of authority and actions prejudicial to the dignity of office of the chief justice of Pakistan," and Chaudhry had been unable to give a satisfactory explanation, APP said.
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What transpired this act from Pervez Musharraf. On the record stories about favours given to his son had already been taking rounds and his desire to get excessive protocol remain in the news for some time now, But members of the legal fraternity point out that the turning point came with the appearance of a so-called "open letter" by a lawyer-cum-television personality, Naeem Bokhari in which Justice Iftikhar Chaudhry was accused of a series of doing favours and violating judicial norms and practices. He was accused by Mr Bokhari of running a "slaughter house" in the name of courtroom, and warned of a "rebellion" if he did not change his style and behaviour.
Well if you believe all this nonsense then please stop reading this blog and spend your precious time in doing other things deemed good enough for you. The facts are not hidden from any one.
Justice Iftikhar Chaudary was an active judge. Peers and adversories both agreed that he did a lot to reestablish the independence of Judiciary in Pakistan which on the one hand had made him popular in the eyes of ordinary people seeking justice but on the other had also irked a few in the establishment. Some of his decisions had started to appear like an open challenge to the government.
His previous decisions or court activities that he was currently conducting which were a thorn in the eyes of the government included
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His decision against the privatisation of Pakistan Steel Mill
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Abduction of civil people in pakistan by Secret Services.
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His decision against Basant in punjab which the honorable Pervez Elahi overturned using his own power
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He gave decisions against Army occupation of private lands and in some cases reprimanded the Army for doing these kind of acts.
Pervez Musharraf could not have such a live wire as Chief Justice which could have hindered his plan of reelecting himself from the same assembly for another 5 years. Sarcastically not long ago, in February of this year the first "National Judicial Conference" in Islamabad adopted a six-point declaration, asking for steps for complete independence of the judiciary instead of depending on the executive for its administrative and financial needs. The purpose of this declaration was the judges can give decisions against the present government without any fear. We can now officially dump this declaration into garbage.