General’s actions illegal: Chaudhry

Pakistan’s Chief Justice Iftikhar M Chaudhry has described President Pervez Musharraf’s post-emergency...

Pakistan’s Chief Justice Iftikhar M Chaudhry has described President Pervez Musharraf’s post-emergency set-up as “illegal and unconstitutional” in his first comments after being deposed by the General.

“Everything that is happening today is illegal, unconstitutional and against the orders of the SC, Chaudhry, who was put under house arrest after he refused to take oath under Musharraf’s Provisional Constitutional Order, told The News.

Chaudhry said the seven-member bench of the apex court headed by him, which had stayed the PCO, and had also restrained the judges of the superior courts from taking oath under the PCO, had left the present set-up completely illegal.

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Musharraf, who came to power in a 1999 bloodless coup, suspended Chaudhry on March 9, following allegations that the judge abused his position. Chaudhry, whose suspension sparked-off massive protests in the country, was reinstated on July 20 when a 13-judge bench declared Musharraf’s March 9 action as illegal.

Stressing that he was determined to launch yet another phase of his struggle for an independent judiciary, rule of law and to uphold the Constitution, Chaudhry said he had neither done anything wrong previously when he was suspended nor had he done any such thing now, the daily said.

“God blessed me with success the last time, and I am sure he would again bless me and other judges, who had refused to take fresh oath under the PCO,” Chaudhry said.