Pakistan lawyers adopt remembrance days and judicial reinstatement deadline
- Pakistan
- 07/23/2008
The Pakistan Supreme Court Bar Association has adopted two annual days of remembrance to highlight the plight of judges deposed following the declaration of emergency by President Pervez Musharraf in November 2007. The Bar Association will observe Independence of Judiciary Day every year on July 20, and Black Day on November 3 of every year. The Bar Association also announced an August 14 deadline for the reinstatement of the deposed judges, after which the lawyers’ movement would engage in a campaign of civil disobedience to force the government into action. Among the deposed judges are a number of justices of the Supreme Court of Pakistan, including former Chief Justice Iftikhar Mohammed Chaudry. Speakers at a lawyer’s movement protest two weeks ago, including prominent lawyers’ movement leader Hamid Khan, urged the PPP and the Pakistani government to implement the conditions of the Murree Accord, and indicated that the movement would not accept judges who had been appointed as a result of the declaration of emergency.
Last week, the reconstituted Supreme Court of Pakistan upheld Musharraf’s declaration of emergency rule and the ouster of the judges. Days before the judgment, Pakistani Supreme Court Bar Association President Aitzaz Ahsan strongly criticized US policy on Pakistan, including its refusal to condemn the declaration of emergency rule. In June, members of the lawyers’ movement concluded a “long march” protest from Lahore to Islamabad, calling for the reinstatement of the dismissed judges. Earlier that month, the Pakistan Muslim League – Nawaz called for Musharraf’s impeachment and released a “charge sheet” outlining misuse of presidential authority, including the dismissal of the country’s superior court judges.
