Pak issues formal notification reinstating deposed judges

The Pakistan government today issued a formal notification reinstating deposed Supreme Court Chief Justice Iftikhar Muhammad Chaudhry and nine other judges who were sacked during the 2007 emergency. The notification was issued hours after Prime Minister Yousuf Raza Gilani announced in a televised address to the nation that all deposed judges would be restored to their positions.

The Pakistan government on Monday issued a formal notification reinstating deposed Supreme Court Chief Justice Iftikhar Muhammad Chaudhry and nine other judges who were sacked during the 2007 emergency.

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The notification was issued hours after Prime Minister Yousuf Raza Gilani announced in a televised address to the nation that all deposed judges would be restored to their positions.

The Pakistan People’s Party-led government gave in to pressure from the lawyers’ movement and the opposition PML-N, which had launched a ‘long march´ to the federal capital and threatened to hold a sit-in near Parliament to press for the reinstatement of the sacked judges.

Among the judges who were reinstated to their positions in the Supreme Court are Chaudhry and Justices Javed Iqbal, Khalilur Rehman Ramday, Raja Muhammad Fayaz and Ejaz Ahmed, the notification said.

Justices Musheer Alam and Maqbool Baqar were restored to the Sindh High Court, Justice Ejaz Afzal to the Peshawar High Court and Justices Khawaja Sharif and Ejaz Ahmed to the Lahore High Court.

Though former military ruler Pervez Musharraf had sacked some 60 judges for not endorsing the Emergency imposed in November 2007, over 40 of them were subsequently re-appointed by the PPP-led government when they agreed to be sworn in afresh last year. Some judges also retired last year.