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Scotch the reference, says Chaudhary’s lawyer

Nirupama Subramanian

ISLAMABAD: A day before the Supreme Court is to give a verdict on ousted Chief Justice Iftikhar Chaudhary’s petition challenging his removal, his lawyer told the 13-judge bench hearing the case that it must “scotch the reference” or leave the door open for further “instability”.

“This reference [against the Chief Justice] is the mother of more evils to come. This has to be scotched, it has to be squashed,” said Aitzaz Ahsan, lead counsel for Mr. Chaudhary as he responded to arguments by lawyers for the Government on Thursday, the penultimate day of the hearing. The courtroom was packed to capacity. Lawyers and members of the public filled the aisles and overflowed from a balcony viewing area. The widely held expectation in the legal community that has spearheaded an unprecedented agitation for Mr. Chaudhary’s reinstatement and the withdrawal of the reference, is that the court will give a “50-50” verdict in the case. Predictions are that the court will restore the Chief Justice, but in a face-saving for the Government and President Musharraf, uphold the reference, sending it to the oversight panel called the Supreme Judicial Council.

A further concession to Mr. Chaudhary may be the reconstitution of the panel so that judges with alleged personal bias against him are no longer on it. Mr. Ahsan urged the court not to give such a verdict, and hand the Chief Justice a complete victory. “You cannot negotiate a halfway house. There has to be one winner and one loser. This reference cannot stand. You cannot give something to them,” Mr. Ahsan said, pointing to the Government lawyers, “and something to me”.

If the Supreme Court sent the reference to the Supreme Judicial Council, Mr Ahsan told the bench, he would summon the President and Prime Minister to the Council, and “if I am refused, I will come back to the Supreme Court”.

The lawyer, who is also a Pakistan People’s Party parliamentarian, said that “will create more instability”.

He described the reference as “made up by intelligence officers”, to which neither Gen. Musharraf nor the Government had applied its mind, and that reflected malice and “collateral purpose”.

The expectation is that the court will deliver a short order on Friday morning after Mr. Ahsan ends his counter-arguments, bringing to an end the two-month long hearing of a complex legal battle.

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