Iftikhar Muhammad Chaudhry

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Iftikhar Muhammad Chaudhry افتخار محمد چودھری
20th Chief Justice of Pakistan
Incumbent
Assumed office  22 March 2009
Preceded by	Abdul Hameed Dogar (De facto)
In office 30 June 2005 – 3 November 2007 (deposed Nov 3, 2007 - Mar 22, 2009)
Preceded by	Nazim Hussain Siddiqui
Succeeded by	Abdul Hameed Dogar (De facto)
Justice Supreme Court
In office February 4, 2000 – June 29, 2005
Nominated by	Mohammad Rafiq Tarar
Chief Justice Balochistan High Court
In office April 22, 1999 – February 3, 2000
Nominated by	Mohammad Rafiq Tarar
Preceded by	Amirul Mulk
Succeeded by	Javaid Iqbal
Justice Balochistan High Court
In office November 6, 1990 – April 21, 1999
Born	12 December 1948 (1948-12-12) (age 60) Quetta, Pakistan
Nationality	Pakistani
Religion	Islam

'Iftikhar Muhammad Chaudhry (Urdu: افتخار محمد چودھری) (born 12 December 1948 in Quetta) is the current and the most controversial Chief Justice of Pakistan. He was appointed as Chief Justice by Pakistani President Gen. Pervez Musharraf on May 7, 2005.[1] He was suspended by President General Musharraf on March 9, 2007, when he refused to oblige Musharraf by refusing to resign. The move provided a pretext to the anti-Musharraf political forces to provide funds for Lawyers' Movement which claimed as its first victory the reinstatement of Chaudhry by an order dated July 20, 2007 of the Supreme Court headed by Justice Khalil Ramdey who was closely associated with Mian Nawaz Sharif the former Prime Minister of Pakistan who was ousted by the military for having hijacked General Musharraf's aircraft on 12th of August 1999. Chaudhry was represented before a Full Court by the disgruntled Aitzaz Ahsan, who was not given any important position by General Musharaf, Benazir Bhutto or Asif Ali Zardari. This judgment of 20th July [PLD 2007 SC 578] essentially without reasons because these reasons were to be recorded later in the detailed judgment which has not been rendered uptill now. After having been elected as President for second term by the Parliament, Musharraf in November 2007 pre-empted an impending court decision against his re-election and suspended the constitution and declared a state of emergency.[2] Justice Chaudhry who was mixed up with Anti-Musharraf political forces convened a seven-member bench which issued an interim order against this action.[3]

In March 2009, the Lawyers supported by various political parties started a decisive movement to reinstate Chaudhry Iftikhar and other deposed Judges. A long march from all over the country was declared soon after. Finally, the government reinstated Chaudhry Iftikhar and other deposed Judges on 16 March, 2009 through an executive order totally beyond the scheme of the constitution by the Prime Minister of Pakistan[4][5]. |date = March 18, 2009 |title = Govt issues notifications for restoration of judges |author = |publisher = WExpose; http://wexpose.org |url = http://wexpose.org/news/index.php/world-news/95-govt-issues-notifications-for-restoration-of-judges- |accessdate = 2009-04-17 }}</ref>^[1].

[edit] Early life

Iftikhar Muhammad Chaudhry was born at 12 December 1948 (1948-12-12) (age 60) in Quetta, Pakistan. Chaudhry belongs to Ghorewaha clan of Muslim Rajput family originally from Faislabad.

[edit] Career in Law

Chaudhry has a Bachelors in Arts and Bachelors in Law (LLB) from Jamshoro-Sindh.^[2]

He joined the bar in 1974. Later, he was enrolled as Advocate of the High Court in 1976 and as an Advocate of the Supreme Court in 1985.^[2]

In 1989 he was appointed as Advocate General, Balochistan.^[2]

He was elevated as Additional Judge, Balochistan High Court in 6 November 1990 until 21 April 1999.^[2]. On April 22, 1999 he became Chief Justice of Balochistan High Court.

Besides remaining as Judge of High Court, he discharged duties as Banking Judge, Judge Special Court for Speedy Trials, Judge Customs Appellate Courts as well as Company Judge. Justice Iftikhar Muhammad Chaudhry also remained President of High Court Bar Association, Quetta, and was elected twice as Member, Bar Council. Later, he was appointed as Chairman, Balochistan Local Council Election Authority in 1992 and thereafter for second term in 1998. He also worked as Chairman, Provincial Review Board for the province of Balochistan. He was twice appointed as Chairman, Pakistan Red Crescent Society, Balochistan.^[2]

On February 4, 2000 he was elevated as Justice of Supreme Court of Pakistan. On June 30, 2005 he became the Chief Justice of Pakistan.^[2]

At present, Justice Iftikhar is also functioning as Chairman, Enrollment Committee of Pakistan Bar Council and as Chairman, Supreme Court Building Committee.^[2]

[edit] Suspension and Reinstatement, 2007

On March 9, 2007, Chaudhry was suspended by Pakistani President Pervez Musharraf. Musharraf also filed a Presidential reference against Chaudhry for misconduct.

The suspension of Chaudhry was the first time in the 50-year history of the Pakistani Supreme Court that a Chief Justice was suspended. There were innumerable complaints against Chief Justice Chaudhry for violating the norms of judicial propriety, corruption,seeking favours and misbehaving with senior lawyers. He was also accused of interfering in the working of the executive branch.

After his suspension, there was unrest in the country with regard to the validity of the allegations against Chaudhry, as well as doubt as to whether Musharraf technically had the power to suspend the Chief Justice under the circumstances.^[3]

On May 5, 2007, Chaudhry with his counsel and politician friend Atizaz Ahsan, who is also the party member of PPP, traveled from Islamabad to Lahore to address the Lahore High Court Bar Association. Demonstrations of support along the route slowed his motorcade to the point that it took him 25 hours to reach the dinner the Association was holding in his honor.^[4] This journey usually takes 4–5 hours on average.^{[citation needed]} Demonstrators chanted slogans supporting Chaudhry and demanding Musharraf to step down. In his highly politically motivated speech he criticized dictatorship and emphasized the importance of the rule of law thereby politicizing the office of Chief Justice for the first time in 60 years history of Pakistan to such levels.^[5]

Public supporting Chief Justice in capital city of Islamabad.

On July 20, 2007, Chaudhry was reinstated to his position as Chief Justice in a ruling by the thirteen-member bench of Pakistani Supreme Court headed by Justice Khalil ur Rehman Ramday. The ruling also cleared him of the misconduct reference filed against him by Musharraf. He was represented by Aitzaz Ahsan, Shahid Saeed, Gohar Khan and Nadeem Ahmed [PLD 2007 SC 578] against 16 senior lawyers representing the Federation. The ruling combined 25 constitutional petitions filed by various parties, but referred most of the issues raised by the 24 petitions not filed by Chaudhry himself to lower courts for extended adjudication. All thirteen of the sitting justices agreed that Musharraf's action had been illegal, and ten of the thirteen ordered Chaudhry was to be reinstated and that he "shall be deemed to be holding the said office and shall always be deemed to have been so holding the same."

[edit] Arrest During 2007 State of Emergency

As judges violated the constitution by violating article 209 of the Constitution of 1973, General Pervez Musharraf, who used to hold the office of the President and Chief of Army Staff of Pakistan, on Saturday, Nov 3, 2007 declared a state of emergency and suspended the nation's constitution and parliament at the same time.^[6].

Further, according to the constitution, the state of emergency only suspends certain fundamental rights of citizens and all other structures and functions of the state remain functioning as normal, but through this proclamation the government had suspended the constitution itself in accordance with Supreme Court' decision rendered in Zafar Ali Shah's case and issued a provisional constitution order (PCO) in its place. Such an action was considered legal by Justice Iftikhar Chaudhry in the aforesaid case.

After the imposition of emergency and suspension of constitution, Chaudhry constituted an eight-member bench of Supreme Court judges duly headed by himself, and in utter violation of Zafar Ali Shah's case immediately quashed the provisional constitution order, declaration of emergency and the suspension of the constitution, and ordered all civil and military personnel to ignore the order. He also ordered all the chief justices of high courts and judges of the Supreme Court and High Court not to take oath under the PCO whereas he himself had taken oath under a similar PCO earlier.

On 15 November Geo News reported that Chaudhry had ordered the Islamabad Inspector General of Police to take action against his and his family’s house arrest and their possible relocation to Quetta. According to the channel, Chaudhry held the interior secretary, the commissioner, the deputy commissioner and the assistant commissioner responsible for his house arrest. He said he was still the Chief Justice of Pakistan and the official residence was his by right.^[7]

On 18 November in a letter to prominent English-language newspaper The News he wrote: "I will fight till the last drop of my blood to save the Constitution of Pakistan and so will resist any move to deport me to some far-flung area with the intention to separate me from the lawyers and the Pakistani citizens".^[8]

In February 2008, Chaudhry wrote an open letter to President Musharraf from house arrest.^[9]

[edit] Release and Reinstatement, 2008-09

Just after general elections in February, on March 24, 2008, on his first day of premiership the Pakistani PM Yousaf Raza Gillani ordered Chaudhry's release from house arrest.^[10][11] However, he did not restore the chief justice. Later three agreements for the restoration of the judges were signed by Asif Ali Zardari, the chairman of the Pakistan Peoples Party and Nawaz Sharif, the chairman of the PML-N, the chief opposition party. But the chief justice remained unrestored. This led to a revival of the lawyers movement for the restoration of judges.

In October 2008, Chaudhry visited the Supreme Court building for the first time since his arrest. He vowed to be reinstated as Chief Justice.^[12]

The Lawyers' Movement announced a "long march" under the leadership of Mian Nawaz Sharif for the restoration of the judges, especially Chief Justice Iftikhar from 12 to 16 March 2009. The government of Pakistan refused to reinstate the judges and declared section 144 in effect in three of the four provinces of Pakistan thereby forbidding any form of gatherings of the "long march". Arrangements were made to block all roads and other means of transport to prevent the lawyers from reaching the federal capital, Islamabad. Workers of the main political parties in opposition and the lawyers movement as well as other known persons from the civil society were arrested. Despite these efforts, the movement continued and was able to break through the blockade in Lahore en route to Islamabad in the night between 15th and 16th of March 2009. A few hours later, on the morning of March 16 2009, the prime minister of Pakistan restored Chaudhary Iftikahar as chief justice of Pakistan under extreme duress through an executive order in violation of the Constitution of Pakistan in which there is no room for reappointment of ousted Chief Justice or Judges.^[13] after which the opposition agreed to stop the "long march".

[edit] Important Considered Rulings

[edit] Pre 2007-08 Judgements

[edit] Validation of Musharraf Military Rule

On April 13 2005, in the "Judgment on 17th Amendment and President's Uniform Case", Justice Iftikhar Chaudhry was one of 5 Supreme Court judges who dismissed all petitions challenging President Musharraf's consistitutional amendments. In a wide ranging judgement they declared that the Legal Framework Order (LFO) instituted by General Musharraf after his suspension of the constitution, the 17th amendment which gave this constitutional backing, and the two offices bill which allowed Musharraf to retain his military uniform whilst being President were all legal because the Parliament had approved the amendments.

[edit] Pakistan Steel Mills Privatization

In 2007, the Supreme court ruled against the government, saying that the selling of Pakistan Steel Mills to a group including Arif Habib, former client and friend of PM Shaukat Aziz, was done in "indecent haste".

President Pervez Musharraf administers the oath of the office of the Chief Justice of Pakistan to Justice Iftikhar Muhammad Chaudhry in 2005.

[edit] Hasba Bill case

The Hasba bill also proposed powers for the police to ensure observance of Islamic practices and values while curbing palm reading and other superstitious customs deemed un-Islamic by the legislators.

General Pervez Musharraf petitioned the top court for an opinion after the Hasba bill was passed through North West Frontier Province's assembly.

"The governor of the province of NWFP may not assent to the Hasba bill in its present form," Chief Justice Iftikhar Muhammad Chaudhry, head of a panel of nine judges, told the court before listing several clauses in the bill deemed unconstitutional.

[edit] Missing people

Many people in Pakistan had been allegedly kidnapped by the American agencies (FBI, CIA) and Pakistani agencies (ISI, MI, IB) in pursuance of the "War on Terror." These people were arrested without any warrant or court order and denied any access to counsel as enshrined in the Constitution of Pakistan. These actions were challenged in the Supreme Court and a bench under the Chief Justice Iftikhar Muhammad Chaudhry took up the case. The complainants in the matter headed by Ms Amina Masood Janjua representing 254 missing persons and their families pleaded that the persons concerned be presented in front of a magistrate in line with the law and be given a trial.

The controversy over the matter increased after police baton charged demonstrators demanding released of their kin, stripping off demonstrators in the process which was pasted across the national newspapers increasing resentment against the government. The Supreme Court had the Ministry of Interior and the representatives of the military agencies directed to appear in the court and answer the issues raised causing ripples in Pakistan's powerful establishment ^[14].

As the case proceeded, the revelations during the proceedings increased public outrage on the matter. The government eventually released 107 missing persons, who narrated their stories of torture and solitary confinements at the hands of Pakistan 'law enforcement agencies', as well as names of others imprisoned with them.

It also became evident that most of the persons were detained for alleged links with the Secular Separatist insurgency in Balochistan and not Al Qaeda, also that many of detainees were there for personal differences ranging from property disputes to Imran Munir's case^[14] whereby he refused to marry the daughter of an Army General.

The case is being pleaded by Fakhruddin G. Ebrahim and Asma Jahangir from the Human Rights Commission of Pakistan.^{[citation needed]}

On August 20, 2007 Ifikhar Mohammad threatened Tariq Pervez (the director-general of Pakistan's Federal Investigation Agency) with jail if he did not produce ghost detainee Hafiz Abdul Basit.^[15] Chief Justice Chaudhry ordered "He must be produced today or you will be sent to the lock-up." Under this threat he was released by the intelligence agencies. Hafiz Basit was later implicated by Musharaff government in the assassination of Ms Bhutto.^[15]

[edit] Other

Some very important cases were heard in the supreme court in the 2007. Decisions have already been taken in some:

• The case whether Nawaz Sharif (twice the former PM of Pakistan) could come back to Pakistan. Decision: Sharif can come back.^[16]
• The case on whether or not the President Pervez Musharraf could run in the election for the next Presidency term.

[edit] Post Reinstatement(2009) Judgments

[edit] Constitution Petition Regarding PCO Judges

The decision of the court in CONSTITUTION PETITION NO. 08 and 09 OF 2009 from 14 member bench headed by Iftikhar Muhammad Chaudhry, summarily removed all justices of higher judiciary who were not part of it as on November 2, 2007. There removal was so ordered on ground that advice of de-jure Chief Justice of Supreme Pakistan was not obtained in these cases. In the same decision the court had held the de-jure Chief Justice between the period of November 3, 2007 and March 22, 2009 was Justice Chaudhry.

There were three groups of these removed justices.

• Those who were elevated to higher courts and initially took oath on PCO.
• Those who were elevated to higher courts after restoration of constitution, and were appointed by General Pervez Musharraf.
• Those who were elevated to higher courts after restoration of constitution, and were appointed by Asif Ali Zardari.

This decision have resulted in situation where:

• Newly appointed justices who never took any sort of oath on any PCO have been removed.
• Sitting justices who took oath on PCO 2007 are still acting as justices, though their cases are to be sent to Supreme Judicial Council.
• Sitting justices who accepted reappointed and took oath from Justice Dogar as still acting as justices of court with no action.
• Justices who took oath on PCO of 1999 are still functioning as justices of higher judiciary.

[edit] Controversies

[edit] Oath on PCO 1999

In January 2000, Justice Iftikhar Chaudhry then a serving judge on the Balochistan High Court (BHC) was one of the first judges to take an oath on the PCO. This allowed him to be elevated to the Supreme Court to fill one of the vacancies left by the 11 judges who had resigned in protest at taking this oath.

[edit] Son Admission In FIA

Ansar Abbasi brought forth allegations against Chief Justice Iftikhar Choudhray for gross misconduct in 2002, accusing him for admitting his Son Dr. Arsalan to FIA undermining all merits.^[17]

[edit] Confusion between Dejure & Defacto

There have been several instances where certain people have marked and/or referred to the current Chief Justice of Pakistan Abdul Hameed Dogar as the Defacto Chief Justice of Pakistan, and referred to Iftikhar Muhammad Chaudhry as the legal and/or current Chief Justice of Pakistan.

Justice Dogar was to the position of Chief Justice of Pakistan on 3 November 2007 and he was offered to take an oath on the Provisional Constitution Order (PCO) which replaced the Constitution like Iftikhar Muhammad Chaudhry who took a similar oath on the PCO in 2000 and was elevated to the Chief Justice position. The oaths taken by Chief Justice Iftikhar however, were accorded constitutional status under the 17th Constitutional Amendment passed by parliament of Pakistan on 29 December 2004. Such ratification is yet to be accorded to oaths taken by Justice Dogar.

As with Iftikhar Muhammad Chaudhry, Justice Dogar later took a fresh oath according to article 178 of the Constitution on 15 November 2007, thus making him the legal and dejure Chief Justice of Pakistan. Under the Constitution of the Islamic Republic of Pakistan a state of emergency can only be declared by the president. Instead of the president the emergency was declared by the army chief, the actions of Gen. Musharraf were illegal.

On 30 July 2009, a 14 member bench of the Supreme Court of Pakistan ruled that all the judges who had taken an oath under the Provisional Constitution Order (PCO), were removed from office and are now facing the Supreme Judicial Council. Two days later an ordinance signed by President Asif Ali Zardari officially removed all PCO judges from office.^[18]

[edit] Awards and honors

[edit] HLS Medal of Freedom

In the wake of the imposition of emergency rule in Pakistan, on November 14, 2007, the Harvard Law School Association^[19] decided to award its highest honour, the Medal of Freedom, to Justice Iftikhar Chaudhry, following the military crackdown the previous week. He becomes the first Pakistani to be presented with such honour.

The Harvard Law School Medal of Freedom is given to selected personalities for their contributions to freedom, justice, and equality. Only two other people have been awarded this honor. The first was Charles Hamilton Houston, an African American lawyer and NAACP Litigation Director who helped play a role in dismantling the Jim Crow laws and helped train future Supreme Court justice Thurgood Marshall. Former South African President Nelson Mandela is the second.

As Iftikhar Chaudhry was under house arrest at that time, the school held a grand ceremony to award the medal hoping that its recipient will soon be released and allowed to attend. The same statement announcing the award identified Chaudhry as Pakistan’s chief justice and not as a deposed or former judge.^[21][22]

Chief Justice Iftikhar Chaudhry formally received the Harvard Law School Medal of Freedom during his visit to the United States in November, 2008.^[23]

[edit] Lawyer of the Year Award

The National Law Journal picked Mr. Chaudhry as the lawyer of the year for 2007.

[edit] New York City Bar Honorary Membership

The Association of the Bar of the City of New York granted Mr. Chaudhry an honorary membership in the association on Nov. 17, 2008, recognizing him as a "symbol of the movement for judicial and lawyer independence in Pakistan."

[edit] See also

• Chief Justice of Pakistan
• Supreme Court of Pakistan
• List of Pakistanis
• Syed Hammad Raza
• Ali Ahmad Kurd
• Aitzaz Ahsan
• Muneer A. Malik
• Hamid Khan
• Athar Minallah
• Lawyers' Movement

[edit] References

[edit] External links

• Movement for Rule of Law, Related to Lawyers Movement Pakistan.
• Read Articles & Urdu Columns dedicated or written for CJP Iftikhar Muhammad Chaudhry & Lawyers Movement
• Chief Justice Iftikhar Muhammad Chaudhry's Updated News and Photos
• Documentary on Judicial Struggle by Pakistani Lawyers Aaj Television
• Former Pak’s CJI family sets Free to Move
• Justice Courageous By Syed Talat Hussain
• Nine Notes on the Pakistan Chief Justice Story
• Pakistan: A consolidated site / blog containing links to different news about Chief Justice of Pakistan's Crisis
• Government Reaction to Lawyer's Protests on CJ Removal
• Daily Times Report on Missing Person Case
• CJP Profile on SCP Official Website
• Pakistani chief justice to receive Harvard Law School 'Medal of Freedom'
• Chief Justice Iftikhar Chaudhary to receive Harvard Law School Medal of Freedom
• Democracy & Freedom - blogspot