ISLAMABAD, JANUARY 27: Seven Supreme Court judges refused to take a fresh oath of office today, defying an order issued by Pakistan's army ruler Gen Pervez Musharraf.The army chief ordered scores of judges to take a fresh oath of office under a provisional constitution that protects the military against legal action. Seven of the 13 judges of Pakistan's Supreme Court refused.A new Supreme Court Chief Justice Ershad Hassan Khan was appointed after the current Chief Justice Saeeduzaman Siddiqi refused to be sworn in again, said a court official who didn't want to be identified by name.The refusal of the judges represents the biggest challenge to date to the military's rule in Pakistan, which began on October 12 when the army threw out the civilian government of Nawaz Sharif.At the time, Musharraf suspended Pakistan's constitution and imposed a provisional constitution which enshrined emergency rule in Pakistan.According to the provisions of emergency rule, it is illegal to challenge any actions of the army.By asking judges to be sworn in again under the provisional constitution, the army ensures that legal challenges to its rule will not be admitted in court.The last time Pakistan's judges were asked to retake their oath of office under a provisional constitution was during the rule of Gen Mohammed Zia-ul Haq, Pakistan's previous military ruler. Zia ruled with an iron hand for 11 years until his death in a mysterious plane crash in 1988.At the time, several judges refused to take the oath of office. It wasn't immediately known whether all the judges would take the oath of office today.Those who refused are expected to be dismissed from their jobs.In Pakistan's eastern Punjab province, 24 high court judges were sworn in and two judges were absent. There was no immediate explanation for their absence and it wasn't clear whether it was a protest.In the North Western Frontier Province (NWFP), nine judges were sworn in and four were absent, apparently to protest the army general's order, according to an official in that province who did not want to be identified.In a terse one sentence statement, the NWFP governor said that the judges who did not take the oath of office would be fired.It wasn't immediately known how many judges took the new oath of office in Pakistan's southern Sindh province and in the sparsely populated Eastern Baluchistan province.Four judges of the Shariat court, which rules on Islamic law in Pakistan, were sworn in.
