Ex-CJ gets high praise from former US attorney general

NEW YORK - Former US Attorney General Ramsey Clark, a prominent liberal,  has paid high tributes to ex-Chief Justice Iftikhar Muhammad Chaudhry for his struggle to restore independent judiciary.

"What you and your colleagues have done has never been done in the history of the world. The whole world is indebted to you. You are an inspiration to all of us." Clark said in a tele-conference with Justice Chaudhry that set up by the Pakistan American Democratic Forum, a organization devoted to defending democracy in Pakistan.

"The whole world is indebted to you", he told the former chief justice. "Sir, it is an honor to talk to you... You're an inspiration to all of us. Please let us know whatever service we may be able to provide (to you).   Attorney Gneeral Clark had gone to Pakistan in 1976 to defend Zulfikar Ali Bhutto but was prevented by Gen. Zia's regime from appearing in the Supreme Court.

On his part, Justice Chaudhry said that he was struggling to restore the supremacy of the Constitution and the rule of law in Pakistan. "We are trying to establish rule of law to make ourselves truly civilised people," he said. "No nation can be free without the rule of law and the supremacy of the Constitution."

He told the audience, which besides former attorney general Clark, included Senator Mike Gravel, an assembly member from Iowa, Abdul Samad, and Mr Chaudhry's lawyer Athar Minallah, that the lawyers' long march was achieved after remarkable sacrifices by the legal fraternity.

The lawyers, he said, would continue their struggle until it achieves its objectives.

Chaudhry noted that an international civil society was already emerging and in today's world it was no longer possible to stay aloof from the struggles of other people. The international community, he said, cannot allow Pakistan to return to the kind of 'barbarism and despotic rule' demonstrated on Nov 3, 2007.

He said on issues like the one championed by the lawyers' movement in Pakistan "people do not look at countries and boundaries; they look at rules and principles."

The former chief justice said that his struggle was not for personal goals but for a larger cause, "to transform the Pakistani society, which stands at a crossroads."

Pakistan, he said, can either take the path that goes to suicide-bombings and mob-rule or go in the direction of rule of law and justice for the common man. "We want to establish our system on principles, not on the whims and desire of an individual," he said.