CHITRALIS FOR CJ RESTORATION

CHITRAL,16 May 08: Almost all Chitralis want the judiciary of 02 November 2007 to be restored as it was without any crumpling in it. In a survey carried out by Chitral News, people from different walks of life expressed great regard for deposed Chief justice Iftikhar Chaudhry and wanted him to be reinstated with full honours.



Those asked for comments said Iftikhar Chaudhry took suo motto cognizance of social injustices ranging from apparently small matters like checking extravagance in marriage ceremonies which cause social disharmony, to matters of national importance like challenging the frittering away of national assets by the govt in shady privatisation deals, asking for whereabouts of disappeared persons, demanding supremacy of the constitution and the law, and many more such steps which judges before him had hitherto ignored as 'some body else's business'.



The chief Justice stood steadfast on his principles in the face of both the stick and the carrot, a trait alien to most Pakistani politicians today, they remarked. Chitralis known to be much interested in national politics and considered more enlightened than many in this regard, were of the unanimous opinion that absence of social justice is the main ailment that we suffer as a nation today -- (CN report)

Lawyers ready to protest

Pakistan lawyers plan to hit the streets again to demand the government quickly reinstate judges ousted by President Pervez Musharraf.

"The leadership of Pakistan's Supreme Court Bar Association will meet on Saturday to finalise protest plans", Munir A Malik a lawyers' protest movement leader said.

Demonstrations will likely start with a nationwide convention of lawyers in Lahore and eventually move on to the Parliament building in Islamabad. He did not give a date for the protests.

"We are absolutely prepared," he said in Hong Kong but said the lawyers would tread carefully so the army would not use it as an excuse to intervene.

Malik's comments came after talks between the two main partners in Pakistan's six-week-old ruling coalition failed to reach an agreement on how to reinstate the judges Musharraf dismissed.

Lawyers launched a high-profile campaign last year when Musharraf first tried to oust Supreme Court Chief Justice Iftikhar Mohammed Chaudhry, who was later reinstated.

Chaudhry was later put under house arrest after Musharraf imposed emergency rule in November, when he also purged other judges.

Malik was arrested and fell ill in prison. Fellow activists claim he was poisoned.

Malik was in Hong Kong to receive an award from the Asian Human Rights Commission for him and his successor as president of the bar association, Aitzaz Ahsan. They were honored for their work with the lawyers' movement.

Courtesy Gulf Daily News.

A TRIBUTE TO ""CHIEF JUSTICE IFTIKHAR MUHAMMAD CHAUDHRY""

IS ZAMEEN-E-WATAN PER BAHAR, IFTIKHAR.
IK WAQAR IFTIKHAR, IK WAQAR, IFTIKHAR.

APNAY AZM-O-AMAL MAIN CHATAAN KI TARAH
IK SAALAAR IFTIKHAR, IK SALAAR IFTIKHAR.

WO SADAAQAT, SHUJAAT, ADAALAT LIYE..
PUR YAQEEN, PUR AZAM, PUR WAQAR IFTIKHAR

MERAY RAB KI TARAF SAY SUKOON-O-ATAA..
HER DUKHI DIL KI HAI TOO PUKAAR, IFTIKHAR.

WO HAI ZALIM-O-AAMIR-O-JABIR SHIKAN
HAI NIDAR IFTIKHAR, HOSHIYAAR IFTIKHAR.

IS KHIZAAN-E-JABR MAIN HAI PEKAR-E-GUL
TOO HAI IS NAKHL-E-NO MAIN BAHAAR, IFTIKHAR.

SAR UTHA K HAI JEENA SIKHAYA HAMAIN..
KIYOON NA HO TUJH PAY JAAN YE NISAAR IFTIKHAR

DIL SAY POOCHHO YE KIS KA HAI NAGHMA SIRA..
IFTIKHAR, IFTIKHAR, IFTIKHAR, IFTIKHAR.

AAO AASH, HUM BATA DAIN JAHAN KO, HAIN HUM
JAANISAAR-E-IFTIKHAR, JAANISAAR-E-IFTIKHAR.

^^by ME^^

BLACK FLAG WEEK .. FROM 9 TO 16 MARCH 2008

Police Fired tear gas at Lawyers and Civil Society's Protest at Judges Colony

ISLAMABAD: Police fired tear gas shells when lawyers and members of the civil society reached outside Judges Colony on Monday and tried to remove the barbed wires to reach the residence of deposed chief justice Iftikhar Muhammad Chaudhry.


The police fired tear gas at scores of demonstrating lawyers, who were demanding that President Pervez Musharraf reinstate Justice Iftikhar.


Helmeted police in riot gear fired several canisters at about 200 lawyers who were shouting slogans outside the residence of Justice Iftikhar. The protesters dispersed and then they regrouped and started chanting slogans against police. They headed towards Ministers' Colony but the police prevented them to do so. Many lawyers were seen coughing and bending over after being hit by clouds of acrid smoke. " alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5173812788342859554" />



The protesters picked up the tear gas canisters and threw them back at policemen who retreated before regrouping. The lawyers had gathered outside the CJP residence after hearing unconfirmed television reports that the government had lifted the house-arrest restrictions on his wife and three children.

The lawyers became agitated when it became apparent that the reports were apparently incorrect.

"Free the children, Go Musharraf Go!" the lawyers shouted. They also demanded entry into the CJP house, which is surrounded by barbed wires.

The protestors also tried to attack the vehicle of Attorney General of Pakistan (AGP) Justice Malik Abdul Qayyum, who was on the way to his official residence situated at the Ministers' Colony.

Earlier, Interior Ministry's official met CJ Iftikhar and offered conditional release to him and said that his family members were free to move any where and children were allowed to go their academic institutes.

The Interior Ministry official told the CJP that he would be released if he agreed that he would not go to the Supreme Court.

According to the source, Justice Iftikhar said that he would not accept any condition and that he would visit the SC right after his release so that he could call his fellow judges to form a full-court bench to further proceed with Justice (r) Wajihuddin's petition upon which the Supreme Court would nullify the emergency rule, enforced by the then chief of army staff (COAS).

Later, the lawyers and civil society workers went to the Secretariat police station where they submitted an application to register a first information report (FIR) against the illegal detention of Justice Iftikhar and his family. The Secretariat police station received the application and told that it would consider it for FIR.

The application says that a criminal case be launched against President Pervez Musharraf, interior minister, interior secretary, chief commissioner, inspector general, deputy commissioner, senior superintendent of police and other officials of the Islamabad Administration for keeping Justice Iftikhar and his family under illegal and undeclared house detention.

Online adds: Caretaker government while deciding to suspend the detention orders of family members of deposed CJ Iftikhar Chaudhry and other deposed judges has allowed them to move freely.

Sources privy to Islamabad administration told the then chief justice of Pakistan Iftikhar Muhammad Chaudhry and other judges who had not taken oath under PCO were house arrested along with their family members following November 3 steps.

The caretaker government had released the detained lawyers and in the second phase the family members of house arrested judges had been allowed to move freely. They can go every where including schools, markets, colleges and other places and meet other people. However deposed chief justice Iftikhar Muhammad Chaudhry and other deposed judges will remain house arrested.

(courtesy The Post)

Aitzaz Ahsan could be set free any time

ISLAMABAD: Punjab government has released the Supreme Court Bar Association (SCBA) president Aitzaz Ahsan, the sources told Geo News

Punjab Home Department has withdrawn police deployed at the residence of Aitzaz Ahsan, the sources added.

Earlier, Punjab Home Secretary, Khusro Pervaiz said that the government of Punjab has decided to release Aitzaz Ahsan, following the completion of the first phase of transfer of power with the final results of elections now announced.

Aitzaz Ahsan could be set free any time, as the security cordon around his residence being withdrawn, he added.

(courtesy Geo News)

Chief Justice Of Pakistan Iftikhar Chaudhry Predicted Victory.

KARACHI: Suspended Chief Justice of Pakistan Justice Iftikhar Muhammad Chaudhry predicted that “victory is in sight” and soon, the judges and judiciary would be restored to their pre-November 3 state.

He predicted this while addressing members of the Sindh High Court Bar Association via telephone from his residence in Islamabad, where he has been detained since being removed under an executive order by President Pervez Musharraf. Justice Iftikhar sounded very optimistic of his triumph and restoration as the CJP.

“The power to rule and the highest offices are short lived, but, long live the traditions and principles set by an individual. Judgments, strictly as per law and constitution, are remembered even centuries after,” he said, adding that “victory is in sight”.

He praised the continuing struggle of the lawyers, judges of the superior courts, civil society and the media for the restoration of the judges and independence of the judiciary.

He demanded “accountability of those who endangered the solidarity of the country” for their individual gains and benefits. The supremacy of law and constitution, in Pakistan, are indispensable if this country is to survive progress and prosper,” he said.

He once again declared the actions taken on November 3 as “illegal and un-constitutional”. A seven-member full bench of the apex court had declared the proclamation of emergency illegal, and also passed an order of restraint urging all judges not to take oath under the PCO. The judges who took an oath under the PCO validated the actions of November 3, he said.

“This is all illegal and unconstitutional. Everything done and decided by these courts are illegal,” he maintained. “The Parliament alone is competent to change and amend laws. Once these powers are surrendered by the Parliament, it will bring disastrous implications for the country and the Nation,” he warned.

He also mentioned the loan obtained by the current chief justice of Pakistan under the Saiban Scheme as a grade-22 officer.

“The time is coming when the law and constitution will be supreme. Judges will be restored and will give justice to the common man,” he said.

Justice (retd) Rashid A. Razvi, president of the SHCBA, thanked Iftikhar Chaudhry for his speech and assured him of support, from all the lawyers of Sindh, for an independent judiciary.

(courtesy Daily Times)

Aitzaz Ahsan Announces a week-long protest.

KARACHI: Supreme Court Bar Association (SCBA) President Aitzaz Ahsan announced on Thursday that lawyers would observe a week-long protest from March 9-16 in support of the judiciary.

The SCBA president made the announcement over telephone while addressing a general body meeting of the Karachi Bar Association (KBA). The first day of the protest coincides with the completion of a full year of the judicial crisis that started on March 9, when former chief justice of Pakistan Iftikhar Muhammad Chaudhry was suspended and President Pervez Musharraf sent a reference against him to the Supreme Judicial Council.

In his speech to the lawyers, Ahsan advised the president to quit and transfer power to representatives elected by the people. He also urged political parties to restore the pre-November 3 judiciary so that justice could be dispensed to the people of Pakistan. Ahsan said, “Political parties have shown their strength by securing a two-thirds majority in the parliament. They should now take steps for a free and independent judiciary. People voted them into power to acquire independence of all kinds, including independent of judiciary, free media and freedom of speech.”

(courtesy Daily Times)

Aitzaz Ahsan's detention may be Extended.

LAHORE: The Punjab Home Department Friday said Supreme Court Bar Association President Chaudhry Aitzaz Ahsan cannot be released before March 3.

While talking to a private news channel, Punjab Home Secretary Khusro Pervaiz Khan said the government had issued orders of his detention for 30 days, which was ending on March 3.

However, sources said the government was likely to extend the detention orders of Aitzaz Ahsan till a new government is formed.

The Home Department has taken strict security measures outside the residence of Aitzaz. Barriers have been erected and the road leading to his house has been closed for traffic.

Imprisoned at home..!!!

The judge's family has been locked in its house for more than 10 weeks.

The 8-year-old son is disabled and has difficulty walking.

His two teenage sisters are not allowed to go to school. Strangers often padlock the gates, and armed men roam the neighborhood.

"How mad they are," the 16-year-old daughter, Palwasha Iftikhar Chaudhry, wrote in an e-mail to a lawyer, referring to government officials who have kept the family detained.

The father, Iftikhar Mohammed Chaudhry, is the former chief justice of Pakistan, a man detained since a state of emergency was declared by President Pervez Musharraf on Nov. 3, still the object of the president's ire and watched constantly by police and the intelligence agencies.

"We are being treated as if we are militants, terrorists, extremists," said Palwasha Iftikhar Chaudhry in a rare telephone conversation from her house.

The judges' leafy enclave of 19 homes on a hill in Islamabad,

with a jogging track,

a children's park and a mosque,

remains locked off from the world -- security officers guarding the roads in and out.

Four former Supreme Court judges are still being held under a kind of neighborhood arrest: they can leave their homes but not their neighborhood.

Chaudhry and his family are being held under house arrest in their five-room home.

His daughter Palwasha, nicknamed "the commander" by lawyers helping the family on the outside, helps smuggle in mobile phones.

A phone number can usually only be used once or twice before the intelligence agencies somehow manage to scramble it, she said.

She said she has read one Harry Potter book more than 20 times since the crisis started, as she has had no other books.

As she spoke, her father's voice could be heard in the background, but he refused to come to the phone.

Palwasha said the call would be cut off immediately if he spoke.

Even so, the line went dead three times.

She said her father worried that the upcoming elections would be fraudulent without a neutral judiciary to help evaluate the fairness of the results.

"I just want to say to the international community, why aren't they being supportive of the chief justice and the other Supreme Court judges?" she asked. "They didn't do anything wrong."