Internationalisation of judges' issue

LAHORE - The visit of deposed Chief Justice Iftikhar Muhammad Chaudhry to US has galvanized the international legal fraternity to the need of an independent judicial system in Pakistan in addition to bringing to limelight his role for the creation of such an institution.
The visit of Justice Chaudhry has come about at the heels of the US visit of President Zardari, on invitation of Harvard Law School as well as the New York Bar Association to respectively honour him with the Medal of Freedom and a life long honourary membership of the Bar. However his visit is going a long way to put the issue of the judges at the international level. Although Justice Chaudhry did not speak at the dinner hosted in his honour by Pakistani community in New York, the kind of reception he was accorded speaks volumes of the respect, he commands equally among the people and lawyers abroad.
In juxtapose to what meted out to him by the PPP government at home by way of denying him restoration despite thrice made commitment, the warmth of reception accounts for the justification of his stand and also the way he served his office flying in the face of a pervasive dictatorial rule.
In his address abroad he has highlighted value of an independent judiciary as a panacea for all maladies inflicted the system in Pakistan and getting rid of them was not so pressing in the past as it is today when the country is beset by all sorts of problems.