Adil Najam
In a rather shocking move, the President, Gen. Perzez Musharraf just dismissed the current Chief Justice of the Supreme Court of Pakistan, Iftikhar Mohammed Chaudhry for alleged “misuse of authority.”
According to a breaking news segment at The News:
The president has submitted a case against Chaudhry to the Supreme Judicial Council. 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, sources said. The report did not specify what he was accused of. The council is a panel of top Pakistani judges that adjudicates cases brought against serving judges and will decide whether the charges against Chaudhry merit his formal dismissal and whether he should be prosecuted.
Basing their story on the Associated Press of Pakistan, the BBC reports further:
Mr Chaudhry was summoned to explain himself to Gen Musharraf and Prime Minister Shaukat Aziz. His case was then referred to the Supreme Judicial Council which will decide if Mr Chaudhry should be prosecuted.
The move has shocked many, but signs of its coming can now be identified in hindsight. Mr. Chaudhry had served as the Chief Justice since 2005 and, on occasion, had taken steps that had irked the power structure in Pakistan.
According to a Khaleej Times report, for example:
Last June, the Supreme Court rejected a government move to sell 75 percent of state-owned Pakistan Steel Mills to a Saudi-Russian-Pakistani consortium for 21.7 billion rupees ($362 million). Mill workers claimed it was greatly undervalued. Also, Chaudhry has heard a landmark case brought by relatives of dozens of people believed taken into secret custody by Pakistani intelligence agencies. The chief justice has pressed the government to provide information on the detainees whereabouts. Talat Masood, a political analyst, said the removal of Chaudhry demonstrated the power of the military and suggested that Musharraf’s government wanted to have a “pliable judiciary” ahead of parliamentary elections expected later this year. Musharraf, who took power in a bloodless coup in 1999, is widely expected to seek another five-year term as president from parliament this fall.
Recently, an open letter from Advocate Naeem Bokhari addressed to the Chief Justice and making a number of allegations against him – some personal – has been circulating on the internet extensively. Over the last week, I received probably two dozen emails with that letter in it (many from our readers, and one from my mother!). It seems to have created a stir. Many readers have been writing that we do a post on that letter. I had not done so, just because the letter was a little puzzling to me and its motivations were not clear. I wondered also if there were hints of personal rivalries or issues. On the other hand it was a well-written and seemingly sincere letter from a person of known integrity. In retrospect, the way the letter ended was prophetic:
My Lord, this communication may anger you and you are in any case prone to get angry in a flash, but do reflect upon it. Perhaps you are not cognizant of what your brother judges feel and say about you. My Lord, before a rebellion arises among your brother judges (as in the case of Mr. Justice Sajjad Ali Shah), before the Bar stands up collectively and before the entire matter is placed before the Supreme Judicial Council, there may be time to change and make amends. I hope you have the wisdom and courage to make these amends and restore serenity, calm, compassion, patience and justice tempered with mercy to my Supreme Court. My Lord, we all live in the womb of time and are judged, both by the present and by history. The judgement about you, being rendered in the present, is adverse in the extreme.
In all honesty, one has to wonder, however, whether it was that letter and other recent media focus on the Chief Justice that led to the removal of the Chief Justice, or whether these were merely instruments designed to prepare the way for this removal?
In either case, a removal of the Chief Justice in this way and for such reasons and at this time is a sad, sad development that will be one more blow to the hopes of the development of an independent judiciary in Pakistan.
Note: At various points we have reproduced, in our right-most column, cartoons from Daily Times (and here) and The News.
aqil sajjad and critic — one should never comment or judge when one’s facts are not correct — on mar 11, The News had a full editorial on the issue and an article by Babar Sattar on its op-ed pages — IN FACT BOTH THESE ARTICLES WERE CUT AND PASTED and posted in this very thread — scroll up and read them —
This the first post that I made — it has the editorial in full:
omar r. quraishi
Mar 11th, 2007 at 3:43 am
Editorial, The News, March 11, 2007
Beware the ideas of March
To say that the ’suspension’ of the Chief Justice of Pakistan, Iftikhar Mohammad Chaudhry, upon the filing of a reference by President Pervez Musharraf under Article 209 of the Constitution is a controversial move would be an understatement. The chain of events set in motion on Friday by the filing of the reference is only going to further exacerbate the rocky relationship between the executive and the judiciary. First the facts as they stand: the president does have the constitutional right to file a reference under Article 209 with the Supreme Judicial Council (SJC) if he receives “informationâ€
“I hear that Islamabad is buzzing with rumors that there is a push from WITHIN the Generals in the Army to ask Musharraf to leave the country.”
@Daktar: I don’t know, but that seems very unlikely. I mean, sure, the army messes up every institution but they are pretty disciplined in maintaining their own.
As everyone has said repeatedly, one of the main issues is that Musharraf wants to get elected by the current electoral college. Also, it’s interesting that PPP has not really made a big deal out of this chief justice issue….maybe this action is part of some sort of preparation for some kind of PPP-Musharraf alliance..
I hear that Islamabad is buzzing with rumors that there is a push from WITHIN the Generals in the Army to ask Musharraf to leave the country.
Is this the usual Islamabad rumor mill at work, or have others heard anything also?
Maybe Mush can be COAS, president and CJ-all rolled in one. Maybe then we will achieve real democracy.
Few days ago when discoursing on idnia’s prgress and its recent recognation in international fronts as an intelligent hard working nation my colleagues and I infered that in india the corruption and poverty are as bad as they are here in pakistan but the root cause of thier emergance as a developing nation is the respect for institution. The successive democratic process in india has done one good thing and that is strengthening of institutions which is a great acheivement. No single person good or bad, mighty or weak should ever have the right to similate an institution at will. This is exactly what is wrong with us. Here we have persons stroger than instution resulting in a complete chaos. We need to strengthen our institution so that people learn to be confident of their system knowing that system will not change with overturning regime.
No respect of instutions or democracy could ever be expected of mushy He is a DICTATOR and he has just reaffirmed his unrightful position.
LONG live the king!!