Zardari says he was waiting for Dogar's retirement to reinstate Chaudhry

Islamabad, Mar 17 (ANI): President Asif Ali Zardari has said that he was only waiting for the retirement of present Chief Justice Abdul Hameed Dogar before restoring Justice Iftikhar Muhammad Chaudhry as the country's Chief Justice.

"I never said that I am against Justice Iftikhar. I was only waiting for the retirement of Justice Abdul Hameed Dogar, who took oath as the Chief Justice in the Musharraf regime. Dogar will retire on March 21 and Iftikhar Muhammad Chaudhry will become the chief justice again in his place," Zardari said.

"I had made it clear on March 9, 2008 after signing the Murree Declaration that no sitting judge would be disturbed. I said it in the presence of Nawaz Sharif to the media and that was why I never disturbed Dogar," The News quoted him, as saying.

"It was a small thing, but this small thing exposed many big people," he said.

Zardari was more concerned about some people from his own party who resigned from their ministries last week rather than his political brother Nawaz Sharif.

Zardari said the political crisis was over, but Pakistan was still facing an economic crisis and terrorism.

Justice Iftikhar Chaudhry was twice removed in the last two years was restored twice. It's a record in the world judicial and legal history.

His first removal resulted in the launching of a movement for the independence of the judiciary, which was initiated by the lawyers, the media and the civil society. The political parties later joined this movement. (ANI)