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Bhagwandas back home

Nirupama Subramanian

Suspense over when he would be sworn in as the acting CJ

— PHOTO: AFP

Justice Rana Bhagwandas (centre) arrives from India in Karachi on Wednesday.

ISLAMABAD: Rana Bhagwandas, Pakistan's senior-most judge after deposed Chief Justice Iftikhar Chaudhary, returned home on Wednesday from India but the suspense continued over when he would be sworn in as the acting Chief Justice.

Lawyers and political parties continued protests over the March 9 ouster of the Chief Justice outside the Supreme Court here.

Lawyers boycotted courts in Lahore, Karachi, Quetta and several other cities and towns in Punjab and Singh provinces.

Arriving at Karachi from New Delhi late in the afternoon, Justice Bhagwandas drove straight to his home in the city contrary to feverish speculation on television channels that he would immediately transfer to a waiting special plane and fly to Islamabad for the swearing-in.

Asked by journalists waiting outside his home when he would take oath as Chief Justice, Mr. Bhagwandas, who was in India reportedly on a pilgrimage, declined to say anything specific, remarking only that "first there has to be a presidential order, and everything will happen according to the Constitution and law".

The Government and President Pervez Musharraf said in recent days Mr. Bhagwandas would be sworn in as acting Chief Justice on his return to Pakistan.

The Supreme Judicial Council, which convened twice under the present acting Chief Justice Javed Iqbal, put off a hearing of the presidential reference against Mr. Chaudhary on Tuesday until April 3 citing the imminent return of Mr. Bhagwandas and the possible reconstitution of the panel.

Meanwhile, most newspapers here carried details of the presidential reference against Chief Justice Chaudhary. Of the 36 points made in the reference, 25 have to do with nepotism and undue favours shown to his son in government postings.

Opposition strategy

Pakistan People's Party leader Benazir Bhutto and Pakistan Muslim League leader Nawaz Sharif are to hold an "unscheduled" meeting in London to discuss Opposition strategy in the judicial crisis.

Mr. Sharif's brother, Shahbaz Sharif, described it the prevailing situation in the country as the "biggest crisis since 1971" when East Pakistan broke away to become Bangladesh.

"We are all working for a common goal, and we have to be one, and with unity of thought and action, we must move forward," he said.

However, the differences between the two parties were starkly visible on the ground, in the protests outside the Supreme Court. Activists of the PPP kept noticeable distance from the rightwing Islamist Muttahida Majlis-e-Amal and the PML(N).

Unlike last week, the protests passed off peacefully.

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