Pak to shift former CJ out of Islamabad
Islamabad,
Nov
10:
The
Pakistan
government
has
decided
to
shift
deposed
Chief
Justice
Iftikhar
Mohammad
Chaudhry
to
Quetta
or
Murree
as
his
presence
has
been
a
constant
headache
for
the
administration,
media
reports
said.
The decision was taken ''to remove him from the picture'' as his occasional press statements were boosting the morale of lawyers and were giving a new life to their struggle against the imposition of emergency and targeting of judiciary.
Besides, the deposed Chief Justice also succeeded in conveying his messages to lawyers' community and citizens of Pakistan.
Mr Chaudhry's last one-minute address to the lawyers on telephone from his besieged house on Tuesday was one of the main reasons to shift him, Dawn newspaper reported.
In the address, he urged the nation to launch a struggle for the restoration of the constitution, which he said, was ripped to shreds.
Before his cellphone was jammed, he said the time for sacrifices had come and hoped that the day would come when there would be supremacy of the constitution without any dictatorship.
The sacked Chief Justice was informed yesterday that he would be shifted to Quetta in next few days, even if he resisted the move. He is likely to be shifted in next two or three days.
However, the depressed judge succeeded in informing his well-wishers about his shifting orders.
They quoted Justice Chaudhry as saying that ''I can sacrifice and go to any extent for the country, I will stand with the lawyers and their struggle and the people of this country for a truly democratic society under the rule of law and supremacy of constitution.'' Mr Chaudhry and at least 11 other Supreme Court judges ceased to function after they refused to take oath under provisional constitutional order issued by Pakistan President Pervez Musharraf after imposing emergency rule in the country on Nov 3. They are now placed under house-arrest here.
UNI