Judgment day nears for suspended Pak judge

Islamabad, July 19: A crucial ruling is expected from Pakistan's Supreme Court tomorrow or on Saturday over President Pervez Musharraf's attempts to remove the country's top judge.

Chief Justice Iftikhar Chaudhry has emerged as a symbol of resistance to Musharraf's rule, after he defied pressure to resign from the president and intelligence chiefs, who accused him of misconduct.

Musharraf suspended Chaudhry on March 9, precipitating the most serious challenge of his eight years in power as a lawyers' movement sprang up to defend the independence of the judiciary and opposition parties seized on the issue in an election year.

Aitzaz Ahsan, lead counsel for the suspended chief justice, will wrap up his arguments tomorrow and the 13-member bench is expected to deliver a judgment either later that day or on Saturday.

Today Ahsan said the ''reference'' -- the set of accusations -- filed by Musharraf against Chaudhry should be quashed, and the panel of five judges earlier authorised by the president to examine the charges against the chief justice should be scrapped.

''The reference has to be scotched,'' Chaudhry's leading lawyer, Aitzaz Ahsan, said. ''There is an undenied series of facts which establishes non-application of minds, malice and collateral purpose.'' The mish-mash of charges against Chaudhry included using influence to get his son a job, fiddling petrol expenses and that he had a penchant for expensive cars.

The government filed a statement in the Supreme Court last month in which it also accused Chaudhry of harrassing judges, showing bias in appointments and intimidating police and civil servants.

Musharraf's real motive for trying to get rid of Chaudhry, many critics suspect, was that the judge could allow constitutional challenges to his plans to get re-elected by current assemblies before they are dissolved for a general election at the end of the year.

Opposition parties may also challenge Musharraf's right to stand for a second term while still army chief, a post he is constitutionally obliged to give up by the end of the year.

The murder, during an robbery, of a court official regarded as a key witness for the chief justice during the early stages of the judicial crisis further fuelled suspicions about the role of Pakistan's intelligence agencies in domestic politics.

Having listened to the arguments for the past two months, the Supreme Court has to decide whether it is constitutionally empowered to hear the case instead of the five-member panel, known as the Supreme Judicial Council.

If not, the stay order placed on the panel's hearings could be lifted.

Chaudhry challenged the composition of the panel and maintained that some its judges were biased against him.

Government lawyers initially insisted that only the panel could hear the case but later said they would not mind if the Supreme Court decided on the merits of the reference.

''There has to be a winner and a loser in this case,'' Ahsan told the court.

Reuters>