Pakistan Govt agrees to reinstate Iftikhar Chaudhry

Monday, 16 Mar, 2009 | 05:32 AM PST |
ISLAMABAD: In a dramatic development in the wee hours of the morning, the government agreed to restore the deposed chief justice Iftikhar Muhammed Chaudhry who, along with nearly fifty judges, was unceremoniously sacked by the then President and army chief General Musharraf almost two years ago.
The Prime Minister in his early morning address to the nation said that all sacked judges will be restored in accordance with the promise of Late Benazir Bhutto. He said that the hindrance in the way of restoring Iftikhar was that the office of the Chief Justice was occupied but now that the sitting Chief Justice (Dogar) was about to retire, therefore, it was now the right time to reinstate Iftikhar. Provincial governments were told to lift section 144 and release detained political workers.
PM Gilani called for dignified celebrations and congratulated the lawyers, political parties, civil society, army and the nation at large. Iftikhar Chaudhry is set to take charge of office on 21 March, 2009.
The move came as tens of thousands of opposition supporters joined the lawyers Long March in Lahore and started to move towards Islamabad to stage a sit-in outside the parliament. As the electrifying events in Lahore started to give dangerous signals of a near revolt, top military and civilian leaders went into a long session of discussion to defuse the situation.
Even when the formal announcement was delayed by a few hours, as details and finer points were being discussed, leader of the opposition Chaudhry Nisar Ali Khan told media that Prime Minister Gilani has informed them that the government was restoring the deposed chief justice.
Highly placed sources said that the Army Chief General Ashfaq Pervaiz Kayani frankly told both President Asif Zardari and Prime Minister Yousuf Raza Gilani that they need to undo some of controversial decisions before the situation spirals out of control. These sources said it was after his not-so-veiled warning that the two top civilian leaders agreed to roll-back some of the controversial decisions of the previous and present governments, including the sacking of the chief justice of Pakistan.
These sources said that soon after meeting the army chief, the president and prime minister went into yet another session of their own to discuss the modalities for making the announcement. By this time reports had already started to come in that the procession heading towards Islamabad was constantly pulling more and more people.
It was then decided that Premier Gilani should give a televised speech in the morning and make the major announcements. As the state-run PTV made the announcement of Prime Minister’s speech later in the night, celebrations started in the lawyers and opposition parties’ camp. Scores of people thronged the residence of the deposed chief justice Iftikhar Chaudhry, raising slogans in support of the judiciary and declaring it a historic victory. The deposed CJ’s spokesperson Ather Minallah called it a good omen, and said though belated, the right move has been made to save the country from further chaos and anarchy.
Justice Iftikhar Chaudhry was first suspended by Musharaf in early 2007 for his alleged role in destabilising the government by blocking some of the major decisions, particularly the privatisation of Pakistan Steel. Many people also believed that his dismissal was also linked to his keen interest in pressurising the government and intelligence agencies to find scores of people who had gone missing, and many of whom were believed to be in the custody of the security agencies.
Sources said that the move to restore Iftikhar Chaudhry may see the restoration of PML-N’s government in Punjab and possibly even removal of Governor Salman Taseer.
Observers say that these dramatic developments may go a long way in strengthening democracy, even if they have arrived under pressure from the security establishment and outside forces, particularly the United States.