Pakistani-Americans See
CJ's Reinstatement as Major Step to Independent Judiciary
By Hazem Kira
Chicago,
Illinois: The Pakistan American Democratic Forum (PADF), a
grassroots organization, has welcomed Supreme Court of Pakistan's
decision to reinstate the CJ, declaring it "a major victory
for Pakistani civil society in general and the judiciary in
particular, and a major defeat for the authoritarian establishment
and its foreign sponsors."
The PADF President Dr. Muhammad Ashraf Toor has called for
immediate reinstatement of 13 judges of high, civil and session
courts that were either fired for supporting the chief justice
or had resigned in protest against Gen Musharraf's unconstitutional
action.
The PADF has urged the Supreme Court of Pakistan to use its
newly-acquired popular mandate to take suo moto cognizance
of four key issues: legal framework for the upcoming elections
in view of Article 43 of the Constitution of Pakistan to ensure
full compliance with the Constitution, free and fair elections
and complete neutrality of the election commission, reinstatement
of those judges and public officials who either lost or resigned
from their respective offices to protest Gen Musharraf's unconstitutional
actions, secret kidnappings of Pakistani citizens allegedly
by foreign agencies, and the Lal Masjid incident including
its antecedents and consequences.
"The unprecedented determination of the people of Pakistan
has produced two affirmative results: an independent judiciary
and a free press", political scientist Dr. Agha Saeed
said. Consequently, the movement for democracy in Pakistan
has acquired two backbones."
The PADF statement in part reads:
We Pakistani Americans welcome Supreme Court of Pakistan's
recent decision to reinstate Chief Justice Iftikhar Chaudhary
and void Gen Musharraf's unconstitutional actions. The judiciary
has taken a much-needed step toward its own independence.
It is a direction-changing victory for the real moderates,
the 160 million of people of Pakistan, who oppose Gen Musharraf's
arbitrary rule and its support by neocons in the United States.
We also call for the immediate reinstatement of the following
thirteen judges who were either fired for supporting the chief
Justice or had resigned in protest against Gen Musharraf's
unconstitutional action. These include: High Court Judge Justice
Jawad S Khawaja; Civil Judges Iram Jehangir, Malik Javed Iqbal,
Ashraf Yar Khan, Rajesh Chandra, Sakhi Mustafa, Pir Ali Syed
Rashdi, Allah Wachaio, and Ihsam Malik; Additional Sessions
and Civil Judge Zulfiqar Ali and Syed Khurshid; Deputy Attorney
General Nasir Saeed Sheikh; and Additional Advocate General
(Punjab) Qaiser Khalil.
These are the unacknowledged and unsung heroes of the 2007
pro-democracy movement. The nation owes them a debt of gratitude
and the time has come to pay that debt.
We urge the Supreme Court of Pakistan to take suo moto cognizance
of the following four items: legal framework for the upcoming
elections in view of Article 43 of the Constitution of Pakistan
to ensure full compliance with the Constitution, free and
fair elections and complete neutrality of the election commission,
reinstatement of those judges and public officials who either
lost or resigned from their respective offices to protest
Gen Musharraf's unconstitutional actions, secret kidnappings
of Pakistani citizens allegedly by foreign agencies, and the
Lal Masjid incident including its antecedents and consequences.
Hereafter, the judiciary itself will be judged by the quality
of justice it will provide to the teeming masses of Pakistan.
The Pakistan American Democratic Forum (PADF) was founded
in 1982 to support the Movement for the Restoration of Democracy
in Pakistan, popularly known as MRD. In 2003 the PADF played
a leading role in the establishment of a US-wide coalition
of pro-democracy groups known as the Pakistan-American National
Alliance (PANA), which had organized US-wide pro-judiciary
movement during the present crisis.
For more information contact Dr. Riaz Ahmed at 248 - 661 –
1115.
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