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Judiciary will not disappoint people, says Bhagwandas

Nirupama Subramanian

Protests continue over the removal of Chief Justice

— PHOTO: AP

TAKING OVER: Senior judge of Pakistan's Supreme Court Justice Javed Iqbal (left) swears in Justice Rana Bhagwandas as acting Chief Justice in Karachi on Saturday.

ISLAMABAD: The first assurance Rana Bhagwandas gave after being sworn in on Saturday morning as the acting Chief Justice of Pakistan against the background of the continuing standoff between the legal community and the Government was that the judiciary would not disappoint the people and that they would soon hear "good news".

The cryptic assurance came in response to questions put to him immediately after his swearing-in at the Supreme Court's Karachi registry, about how he would proceed in the matter of the presidential reference against Chief Justice Iftikhar Chaudhary. He said the Supreme Judicial Council, the five-judge panel inquiring into the reference, would soon decide whether Mr. Chaudhary should be given an open hearing as he has demanded, or if it should continue to hear the case in camera.

Speedy inquiry

The next hearing is on April 3. Mr. Bhagwandas said the inquiry would be conducted speedily, and that he would do everything to maintain the independence and dignity of the judiciary. He appealed to the media to avoid comments on the reference against Mr. Chaudhary as it was sub judice.

His swearing-in was conducted by Justice Javed Iqbal, who functioned as the interim acting Chief Justice after the March 9 removal of the Chief Justice.

The Sindh and Karachi bar associations continued protests over the removal of the Chief Justice as Justice Bhagwandas was being sworn in. The two associations boycotted the ceremony.

The acting Chief Justice, against whose appointment some Islamist organisations raised protests because he is a Hindu, began his swearing in with the customary Islamic invocation Bismillah-ur-Rehman-ur-Rahim.

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