FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
AHRC-STM-013-2008
January 14, 2008
A Statement by the Asian Human Rights Commission
PAKISTAN: Boycott of courts by lawyers enters 75th day and the government’s attacks on judges intensify
The detained Chief Justice of Pakistan, Mr. Iftekhar Choudhry was served a notice from the government on January 12, 2008, to vacate the official residency within seven days from that date. Mr. Choudhry is under house arrest since the imposition of emergency rule on November 3, 2007. Another deposed senior Judge of Supreme Court Mr. Rana Bhagwan Das, the acting chief justice of Pakistan was put under house arrest after he took oaths from the newly elected office bearers of Karachi Bar Association.
According to the details, very strangely, Mr. Choudhry, was asked by the Public Works Department, not by ministry of law or registrar of Supreme Court, to vacate the house within seven days as it is required to be vacated for handing over to the present Chief Justice, Mr. Abdul Hameed Dogar, is facing great inconvenience in his present house due to non availability of the office facility in his residency, the notice says. Mr. Iftekhar Choughry has refused to entertain the notice as saying that I am not a retired judge Mr. Choudhry said in his reply that he was still the chief justice under the 1973 Constitution and was entitled to retain the government accommodation until superannuation (December 2013). He recalled a decision made at a meeting of the full court, comprising all the then judges of the Supreme Court, on May 21 last year, allowing judges or the chief justice six months to vacate any government house.
Mr. Rana Bhagwas Das, former Acting Chief Justice, was put under house after he was invited by different bar associations and addressed several seminars. He was also deposed after the imposition of the state of emergency on November 3, and he retired in the third week of December 2007. On January 13, 2008 when people went for a vigil outside his house to show their solidarity some 12 of them were arrested on charges of disturbing peace and law and order.
The Asian Human Rights Commission strongly condemns the actions of the government that are being taken against the deposed judges and particularly against the Chief Justice of Pakistan, Mr. Iftekhar Choudhry. These actions are coercive measures to take revenge on the judiciary for its fight for the independence of the judiciary and the rule of law. The government of Pakistan failed to justify its previous actions of installing a stooge judiciary and this gave rise to the struggle of the lawyers and civil society for an independent judiciary. Since November 3, after the imposition of emergency rule, the lawyers have continued their boycott of the courts in protest against the Provisional Constitution Order (PCO). This boycott has entered its 75th day and apparently this is compelling Musharrafs government to take stronger actions against the deposed Chief Justice.
The AHRC also supports the stand of Mr. Iftekhar Choudhry that he is still the chief justice of Pakistan and the government of Musharraf has no legal or constitutional right to dislodge him from his official residency. The attack on Mr. Rana Bhagwas Das, the senior most among the Supreme Court judges who declared the POC as unconstitutional is a further act that cannot be condoned. The harassment of the Supreme Court judges is designed to discourage the movement of the lawyers who are boycotting the higher courts as they do not consider the judges who have been elected under the POC to be legitimate judges. Questions of legitimacy cannot be resolved by repression. The only way to resolve this very fundamental issue is to restore the constitution. Without the restoration of the supremacy of the constitution it is no longer possible for the legal system of Pakistan to function.
The global human rights community, the judicial profession throughout the world as well as the legal profession, needs to support the judges and lawyers of Pakistan more vigorously. All orders of house arrest against the judges and the lawyers should be condemned and pressure needs to be brought to end such illegal acts.
