Heros welcome as Pak CJ returns to office

Entering the Supreme Court after a 16-month gap,Pakistans Chief Justice Iftikhar M Chaudhry on Tuesday sought a more independent and corruption-free judiciary.....

Entering the Supreme Court after a 16-month gap,Pakistans Chief Justice Iftikhar M Chaudhry on Tuesday sought a more independent and corruption-free judiciary as jubilant supporters gave him a standing ovation minutes before he heard his first case since his restoration last week.

On Chaudhrys first day in office after his dramatic reinstatement,a petition was filed in the apex court seeking the trial of former President Pervez Musharraf who had sacked the top judge during the 2007 emergency on treason charges.

Chaudhry,60,was accorded a heros welcome by lawyers and staff when he arrived at the Supreme Court in the morning. If there is any sort of corruption in the judiciary,including in my office and the lower courts,it should be brought to the notice of the registrar of the Supreme Court of Pakistan through a complaint, he told lawyers after starting proceedings at a packed courtroom. He said he wanted to see the judiciary more independent and corruption-free. He also thanked the lawyers movement and people for their struggle for restoring an independent judiciary.

Story continues below this ad

Significantly,he segregated judges who were sacked for defying the 2007 emergency and judges who had endorsed the measure while constituting new benches of the apex court. A petition was filed asking the Supreme Court to bar judges who endorsed the 2007 emergency from continuing in their positions.

Chaudhry and other judges deposed by Musharraf were reinstated by the PPP-led government last week following a countrywide protest by the lawyers movement and the PML(N).

Observers have said PPP chief and President Asif Ali Zardari was reluctant to reinstate Chaudhry as he feared the top judge could scrap a controversial law passed by Musharraf to drop graft cases against PPP leaders.

Meanwhile,the Supreme Court on Tuesday fixed March 30 for hearing petitions seeking a review of its judgment barring PML(N) leaders Nawaz and Shahbaz Sharif from electoral politics. Chaudhry issued orders to fix the case for hearing.