CHAUDHRY: petition lodged with Pakistan's Supreme Court


The UK-based Association of Pakistani Lawyers (APL) has lodged a petition with the country's Supreme Court as protests against the suspension of its Chief Justice step up.



Iftikhar Mohammed Chaudhry remains suspended and under house arrest on charges that have never been made public. His suspension has led to lawyers boycotting courts and the resignation of a number of judges. The police have attacked lawyers demonstrating over Mr Chaudhry's treatment.



APL chairman Amjad Malik wrote to the acting Chief Justice asking for a judicial interpretation of the country's constitution as it applies to Mr Chaudhry's suspension from office.



Mr Malik said: 'I received no reply and we have now engaged a lawyer in Pakistan and lodged a petition with the Supreme Court. The petition asks the 16 remaining judges to meet and settle the law as to whether the Chief Justice can legally be treated in this arbitrary way. Will government be able to dismiss all future chief justices so easily and without reference to law?'

The initial hearing is scheduled for 24 April.



The American Bar Association and LAWASIA (the Law Association for Asia and the Pacific) have also written separately to the president of Pakistan, General Pervez Musharraf, to express their concern.



Mah Weng Kwai, LAWASIA's president, said: 'We note reports that the Chief Justice is now to face charges, as yet unspecified, in a closed session of the Supreme Court, and we are extremely concerned at this apparent lack of transparency... there is strong sensitivity about any suggestion of an attack on the independence of the judiciary, the rule of law and the integrity of the justice system in Pakistan.'



Jonathan Rayner