Eight deposed SHC judges stage return

The oath-taking ceremony was attended among others by Chief Minister Syed Qaim Ali Shah, Speaker Sindh Assembly Nisar Ahmed Khuhro, provincial ministers, SHC judges and senior officials.

The decision to reappoint judges came two days after former prime minister Nawaz Sharif quit the government over differences with leading coalition partner Asif Ali Zardari over the issue of the sackings, which set off months of political turmoil.

Law Secretary Agha Rafiq told BBC that the deposed judges had been reappointed after their consent. “This offer is for all judges and it does not involve any ‘minus one’ formula.”

He maintained “All judges will be reinstated soon. If someone is not interested he will not be forced. Only those will be restored who are willing.”

According to the Law Secretary, the judges had been restored as per November 2 seniority. The total number of SHC judges has now become 26.

The remaining deposed SHC judges are Chief Justice Sabihuddin, Justice Sarmad Jalal Usmani, Justice Musheer Alam, Justice Maqbool Baqar, Justice Gulzar Ahmad and Justice Arshad Siraj Memon. Justice Rahmad Hussain Jaferi was retired.

Deposed SHC CJ Justice Sabih said he was also offered reappointment but he declined it because there was no national consensus about it.

Responding to a question, he said he had no objection about his colleagues’ reinstatement because some judges were in favour of the oath and some opposed it.

He said the collective stance was that one person cannot abrogate the Constitution and their sacking was unconstitutional. “This issue is still there. The new oath is as per the Constitution but the sackings were unconstitutional,” he added.

The legal community described the move as a ‘conspiracy’ to harm their demands for the restoration of all judges, including independent-minded chief justice Iftikhar Muhammad Chaudhry.

Talking to BBC, deposed Chief Justice of Pakistan Justice Iftikhar Muhammad Chaudhry’s spokesman Athar Minnallah regretted the reappointment of eight judges but maintained that the lawyers movement will gain more momentum now.