Deposed CJI Iftikhar rejects govt's proposal of kids' movement

Islamabad, Mar 5 : A couple of days after the Pakistan government decided to allow deposed Chief Justice Iftikhar Mohammad Chaudhry's children to leave their house to attend their educational institutions, the judge is learnt to have refused to allow his kids to move out in police custody as, he said, he didn't trust the police personnel in the present regime.

Justice Iftikhar and his family have been kept under house arrest since last year, after the former refused to follow President Pervez Musharraf's policies.

The deposed CJ reportedly informed the administration in clear terms that he would allow his children to go to school only if his driver Farhat and gunman Abbas were allowed to resume their duty. "Only they could escort the children to their school," the Dawn quoted Justice Iftikhar as saying.

Under pressure from continuing protests by lawyers and civil society activists outside the Judges' Colony, the government had on Monday decided to relax restrictions on the deposed CJI's kids and allow them to attend their educational institutions.

Advocate Athar Minallah, considered close to Justice Iftikhar's family, rejected the government's claim that family members were free to move, and said that the deposed CJ's children could not go to their school because no government official had contacted the family since morning. As usual Justice Iftikhar's family is locked inside and not allowed to move freely, he added.

He added that police had locked all gates of the official residence of the deposed CJI on Monday after a large number of lawyers, civil society activists and students made an unsuccessful attempt to march towards the Judges' Colony. Police used teargas to disperse the protesters who had gathered outside the Balochistan House.

Later, the Islamabad administration sent a message to the deposed chief justice saying that his children could be escorted to their educational institutions.

ANI