Two more Pakistani judges resign in legal crisis
Two more Pakistani judges resigned today to protest against President Gen. Pervez Musharraf’s controversial removal of the country’s chief justice.
Musharraf suspended Supreme Court Chief Justice Iftikhar Mohammed Chaudhry on March 9 over unspecified allegations he had abused his authority and now faces a growing current of public resentment over the army’s dominant role in Pakistan.
The move has sparked a nationwide lawyers’ strike and angry protests by lawyers and opposition activists – drawing a forceful police response and hundreds of arrests.
Critics claim Musharraf, who serves concurrently as army chief and president, sought to remove the strong-willed judge ahead of parliamentary and presidential elections due within a year as legal challenges to his rule could have been brought to the Supreme Court. The government says the move was not politically motivated.
But two judges submitted their resignations today – following another who resigned last week in protest over police manhandling of Chaudhry – claiming that the government’s actions against the chief justice had hurt the judiciary.
“I have waited a few days before addressing you, in the hope something will be done to remedy the harm done to the judicial organ of the state. It seems I have waited in vain,” Lahore High Court Judge Jawad Khawaja said in a resignation letter sent to Musharraf.
In Karachi, 1st Senior Civil Judge Ashraf Yar Khan told reporters that he was leaving his post because of “the present situation in the country” regarding the judiciary. Lawyers were boycotting court proceedings in the southern city and were expected to stage a rally later today.
On Friday, protests by lawyers and opposition activists turned violent in Islamabad, and police raided a private TV station that gave live coverage of the unrest.
More unrest is anticipated on Wednesday, when the Supreme Judicial Council resumes its hearing in Chaudhry’s case. The panel of top judges is meant to decide whether the chief justice should be sacked or reinstated.
