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Sacked CJP writes to world leaders

By admin | January 31, 2008

Sacked chief justice of Pakistan Iftikhar Muhammad Chaudhry has written an “open letter” to world leaders rejecting charges levelled against him by President Pervez Musharraf during his recent visit to Europe. The letter — addressing the US secretary of state, British prime minister, presidents of European Parliament, France, and director of the World Economic Forum at Geneva — was released by lawyers supporting the sacked CJP in a press conference on Wednesday, “to put the record straight”. He said the presidential reference filed against him had been struck down by a 13-member bench of the Supreme Court (SC) on July 20.
“The general” had declared emergency on November 3 because his constitutional term was ending on November 15, he said, and wanted to purge the judiciary of “independent judges” to replace them with those who would “validate whatever he demands”. He said his family had been detained with him and could not “even step out on to the lawn for the winter sun” because police pickets occupied it. He said the Constitution contained no provisions for its suspension and could only be amended by the parliament and not by an executive or military order. Chaudhry said the eight-page charge-sheet against him was part of “the general’s feverish drive” after failing to obtain his abdication. An SC bench had decided against the reference against him, he said, and the allegations “the general bandied at every opportunity” were made from rostrums where others could not respond.chief-justice-of-pakistan-responds.doc

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