Justice Ch 'No' turned tables on Musharraf: Wajih

LAHORE - While demanding immediate restoration of the deposed judges, lawyers have discarded the mode of presidential ordinance for their reinstatement as well as any minus-one or minus-two formula which the PPP government is mulling to keep Justice Iftikhar Muhammad Chaudhry out.
At the seminar held by Judicial Activism Panel under the chairman of former Justice of Supreme Court Wajihuddin Ahmad, at the Lahore High Court Bar here Tuesday, speakers unequivocally rejected any other mode except restoration of judges through an executive order which had to come through the president not as a necessity but a formality to keep the sovereignty of the government up.
Justice Wajihuddin in his hard-hitting speech warned the government against bringing any ordinance for the judges restoration saying it would be a sword on them as the ordinance would lapse after 120 days and there would be no surety whether or not it would be enacted. He said the Ordinance is a legislation which means, the government is conceding to the PCO of November 3 and actions taken subsequent to that when the fact that they all were patently illegal, unconstitutional and without any lawful authority. He said any law on restoration of judges would fetch very serious ramifications and the best way is executive order, which, however, has to be only a formality to keep the government at upper hand. He said the whole nation wanted restoration and if the judges announced a timeframe for their return to the office, the people carrying them on shoulders would lead to them to their seats. He said lawyers struggle would not come to an end at restoration of judges but till the country has a system of justice which fairly and squarely punishes the offender and rewards the innocent.
Justice Wajih said lawyers were ready to observe silence over the retention of PCO judges but only those who were holding the office on November 2 while the rest must go back to their original position for the reason, they were brought in by Musharraf so they too need to go with him. The former judge said it were not the suo moto notices which irritated Musharraf but the fact that he had to contest the presidential elections and wanted to have a subdued judiciary which in case of his candidature matter before the court, does not pass an unfavourable decision. But a ‘nay’ of Justice iftikhar Muhammad Chaudhry turned the tables on Musharraf and ultimately brought about his downfall. And the subsequent movement by the lawyers not only imparted awareness to the masses and united them under one banner but also factored a big change in the political horizon of the country where exiled leaders were allowed to come back and their parties through elections provided a solid democratic base to the country. He said from November 3 to December 15 Musharraf took a lot of unconstitutional steps need to be struck down.