Supreme Court Judges Under House Arrest In Pakistan

The Peninsula
Posted: 2007-11-05 20:20:45

Most of Pakistan's deposed judges were under virtual house arrest yesterday after they refused to take an oath under President Pervez Musharraf's emergency proclamation, a senior judge told AFP.

Supreme Court judge Rana Bhagwandas, who lost his position after he would not be sworn in under the provisional Constitutional Order (PCO) issued by Musharraf on Saturday, said police and security had confined him to his home.

He said chief justice Iftikhar Muhammad Chaudhry (pictured) , whom Musharraf has replaced, and many other judges were also in similar confinement at their homes.

"There is a heavy security deployment and our houses are locked. We cannot go out and no one can come in," the judge told AFP by telephone, adding that he had also spoken to Chaudhry and a few other judges.

"We are confined to our rooms. We wanted to go the Supreme Court but they locked our houses from outside and have deployed heavy security," added Bhagwandas, the Islamic republic's only Hindu judge.

Chaudhry declared Musharraf's imposition of a state of emergency "illegal" and "unconstitutional" in comments published yesterday.

"Everything that is happening today is illegal, unconstitutional and against the orders of the Supreme Court," Chaudhry told local daily The News, in his first reported comments since the crisis engulfed Pakistan at the weekend.

He told the paper by telephone that all recent appointments made in the superior judiciary had "no legal validity." Chaudhry said a seven-member bench headed by him had defied the emergency proclamation and instructed judges of the superior courts not to take any oaths under the order.

Judges appointed on Saturday and Sunday have no legal backing, he said.

Musharraf, who took power in a 1999 coup, suspended Chaudhry on March 9 following allegations that the judge had abused his position by obtaining a top police job for his son and other privileges for himself.

Bhagwandas briefly served as interim chief justice in the initial days after Chaudhry's suspension.

Chaudhry was reinstated on July 20 when a 13-judge bench ruled that Musharraf's action was illegal, in a major blow to the embattled president.

Chaudhry said he was confident he would stage another comeback.

"God has blessed me with success last time and I am sure he would again bless me and other judges who had refused to take a fresh oath under the PCO in a similar manner this time," he told the paper.

He said the order was illegal and unconstitutional because seven Supreme Court judges had declared it void. "I pray for the goodness of the country and the masses and the rule of law."