by Masroor Gilani
ISLAMABAD, March 24: It was another historic day in Pakistan. As soon as the newly elected Prime Minister Yousaf Raza Gilani announced in his inaugural speech in National Assembly that he will free the judges detained by embattled President Pervez Musharraf, people thronged the chief justice house with sweets and flowers.
Chief Justice Iftikhar Muhammad Chaudhry and his family had been under house arrest in the palatial villa on the foothills of Margallah since November 3 by the US-backed former military general who packed up the judiciary fearing it would disqualify him from contesting a second five-year term.
Musharraf lifted the emergency in December, but Chaudhry and his independent-minded colleagues and their families remained prisoners in their houses without any lawful order. Officials have said that judges had been detained under verbal instructions from presidency.
“I thank the entire nation and the parliament,†Chaudhry said as he appeared in the balcony of his house to a charged crowd raising slogans “Go Musharraf Go.â€
Musharraf had previously sacked Chaudhry in March 2007 on the so-called “misconduct†charges, but Supreme Court restored him in July, following protests and unrest in which some 50 people were killed in just one day in the southern city of Karachi on May 12.
The new coalition government has vowed to reinstate judges through parliament within 30 days. If reinstated these judges might declare Musharraf’s election invalid.
Musharraf grabbed the power in 1999 when former prime minister Nawaz Sharif ordered his retirement over an unauthorized military venture inside Indian-occupied Kashmir. The general refused to accept his sacking and staged a bloodless coup and arrested his boss and got him convicted of hijacking his plane. Hijacking carries death penalty in Pakistan. But Sharif managed to get asylum in Saudi Arabia in return of a pledge that he will not return to country before 10 years.
Gilani, a former speaker, and a stalwart from Pakistan People’s Party of slain ex-premier Benazir Bhutto who was killed in a gun and suicide attack in the city of Rawalpindi on December 27, has also served four years in prison during Musharraf regime over giving jobs to jobless people.
It will be an interesting encounter on Tuesday when Musharraf will administer oath to Gilani because the general had been calling Bhutto corrupt and spent of million of dollars on false corruption cases against her. The government kept Asif Zardari, Bhutto’s widower and now party co-chairman in jail for 11 years, but he was cleared of all cases, the last case accusing of murder him was thrown out by a court in Karachi on Monday.
Why Musharraf is still adamant to stay in presidency when his allies had been defeated in February 18 election is a big question and there is only one answer that his American masters still want him the hot seat because he had been fighting their “war on terrorâ€.
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ISLAMABAD, March 24: It was another historic day in Pakistan. As soon as the newly elected Prime Minister Yousaf Raza Gilani announced in his inaugural speech in National Assembly that he will free the judges detained by embattled President Pervez Musharraf, people thronged the chief justice house with sweets and flowers.
Chief Justice Iftikhar Muhammad Chaudhry and his family had been under house arrest in the palatial villa on the foothills of Margallah since November 3 by the US-backed former military general who packed up the judiciary fearing it would disqualify him from contesting a second five-year term.
Musharraf lifted the emergency in December, but Chaudhry and his independent-minded colleagues and their families remained prisoners in their houses without any lawful order. Officials have said that judges had been detained under verbal instructions from presidency.
“I thank the entire nation and the parliament,†Chaudhry said as he appeared in the balcony of his house to a charged crowd raising slogans “Go Musharraf Go.â€
Musharraf had previously sacked Chaudhry in March 2007 on the so-called “misconduct†charges, but Supreme Court restored him in July, following protests and unrest in which some 50 people were killed in just one day in the southern city of Karachi on May 12.
The new coalition government has vowed to reinstate judges through parliament within 30 days. If reinstated these judges might declare Musharraf’s election invalid.
Musharraf grabbed the power in 1999 when former prime minister Nawaz Sharif ordered his retirement over an unauthorized military venture inside Indian-occupied Kashmir. The general refused to accept his sacking and staged a bloodless coup and arrested his boss and got him convicted of hijacking his plane. Hijacking carries death penalty in Pakistan. But Sharif managed to get asylum in Saudi Arabia in return of a pledge that he will not return to country before 10 years.
Gilani, a former speaker, and a stalwart from Pakistan People’s Party of slain ex-premier Benazir Bhutto who was killed in a gun and suicide attack in the city of Rawalpindi on December 27, has also served four years in prison during Musharraf regime over giving jobs to jobless people.
It will be an interesting encounter on Tuesday when Musharraf will administer oath to Gilani because the general had been calling Bhutto corrupt and spent of million of dollars on false corruption cases against her. The government kept Asif Zardari, Bhutto’s widower and now party co-chairman in jail for 11 years, but he was cleared of all cases, the last case accusing of murder him was thrown out by a court in Karachi on Monday.
Why Musharraf is still adamant to stay in presidency when his allies had been defeated in February 18 election is a big question and there is only one answer that his American masters still want him the hot seat because he had been fighting their “war on terrorâ€.
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