April 02, 2008	Wednesday	Rabi-ul-Awwal 24, 1429

LAHORE, April 1: Justice Wajihuddin Ahmad (retired) said on Tuesday deposed chief justice Iftikhar Muhammad Chaudhry should not have met PPP co-chairman Asif Ali Zardari.

"The condolence could have been offered through a letter. In future such matters should be dealt with care," Justice Wajih said at a function organised by Alfa, a lawyers body, to award shields and certificates to lawyers in appreciation of their efforts during the drive for restoration of the judiciary.

Wajih said the atmosphere of the meeting, where the chief justice had to sit across the table with Asif Ali Zardari, was not appropriate. As far as the judges' restoration was concerned, he said, he did not even have a shred of doubt over the restoration of the illegally-removed judges because the matter was now a national issue.

He said the only problem he saw after the restoration of the deposed judges pertained to those who took oath under the PCO after Nov 3 and were appointed by Pervez Musharraf unilaterally. He added that the restored judges would not like to sit with the present judges who should be removed for taking oath under the PCO.

He said one of the deposed judges, Justice Jehangir Arshad, had refused to sit with the people who took oath under the PCO. The democratic forces must understand their sentiments and consider the pre-emergency judiciary’s revival according to their sentiments.

He said the judges, who took oath under the PCO and the ones appointed after the imposition of the emergency, were in offices in violation of Article 6 of the Constitution. He added their oath and appointments also were a violation of the Supreme Court's Nov 3 decision whereby all judges were restrained from taking any oath.

The mode of appointments of the judges to the higher courts should be amended to make it more credible and free from political influence, he said, also suggesting that a parliamentary body should appoint the judges to the higher judiciary on the basis of the names sent to it by the judiciary itself.

He said 33 per cent soldiers in the Pakistan army were commissioned officers, another 33 per cent non-commissioned and the remaining 33 per cent were from the middle class -- which was very nice. From among the middle-class, people like field martial Ayub Khan, Gen Ziaul Haq and Gen Pervez Musharraf were identified and promoted from the middle class for disrupting the democratic process in the country.

He claimed that the new government was preparing to write off loans worth billions just like the last government that wrote off Rs54 billions worth of loans after coming into power in 2002.

He said a lot of people believed the coalition government would not be able to co-exist beyond 2009, and hoped that it would complete its tenure and mirrored the aspirations of the people. He criticised the National Reconciliation Ordinance and the pardon granted to several politicians under it.

He appealed to the Organisation of Islamic Conference (OIC) to ban imports from Denmark and the Netherlands to stop them from making blasphemous films. He lauded the media for their role in the drive for the restoration of the judges and hoped it would continue to do so.

He said the landless haris, who were hostage to the landlords, should be given ownership rights of land under the Land Reforms of 158. He added that the support price for wheat should be raised to an extent that it frustrated smuggling while it should be sold in the local market on subsidised rates.

He asked the new government to fix the minimum wages to the price equivalent to a tola (some 11 grams) of gold and take steps to rein in the prices of industrial products.