ISLAMABAD, March 28: Deposed Chief Justice of Pakistan (CJP) Iftikhar Mohammad Chaudhary on Friday offered his first Jumma prayers in mosque after lifting of restrictions on his movement that were imposed with the proclamation of emergency on November 3 last year, Online news agency reported.

As Justice Chaudhry reached the mosque at the Sindh House, he was received by hundreds of people. Lawyers, representatives of electronic and print media, and civil society activists were also present on the occasion.

Judges of the Supreme Court, including Justice Ijazul Hassan and Shakirullah Jan, also prayed in the same mosque.

The deposed CJP avoided responding to questions put forward by the media persons and returned to his residence after offering the prayers.

Strict security arrangements were made on the arrival of Justice Chaudhry at the Sindh House and police officials, some of them in plainclothes, cordoned off his residence and the mosque.

Dawn’s correspondents add from Attock and Taxila: Deposed chief justice Iftikhar Mohammad Chaudhry has congratulated the lawyers’ community in Taxila and Attock on achieving success in the first stage of their struggle for the supremacy of the law and constitution.

He was talking to delegations of the Taxila Bar Association (TBA) and District Bar Association (DBA) Attock which called on him at his residence in Islamabad.

The DBA delegation that called on the deposed CJP on Friday was comprised of Supreme Court Bar Association (SCBA) member Sheikh Ahsanuddin, association’s general secretary Israr Malik, Sadaqat Ali Khan, Ahmed Nawaz and Malik Asif.

The lawyers felicitated Justice Chaudhry on his release from about five months of illegal detention.

Mr Ahsan quoted the deposed CJP as saying that “we tried our best to uphold the supremacy of judiciary and to bury the doctrine of necessity forever, but faced some hurdles.

“However, these hurdles are temporary and ultimately people will win in their struggle, which they had launched to restore the supremacy of the constitution and law.”