April 23, 2008	Wednesday	Rabi-us-Sani 16, 1429

QUETTA, April 22: Justice (retd) Rana Bhagwandas said on Tuesday that reinstatement of all deposed judges except Chief Justice Iftikhar Mohammad Chaudhry would aggravate the judicial crisis and that would harm the cause of independence of the judiciary and rule of law.

Addressing the Balochistan Bar Association, he said that if an individual could remove the judges there should be no reason that parliament could not reverse the illegal act.

Lauding Justice Iftikhar’s decision of refusing to resign when he had been summoned to the president’s camp office last year, he said the chief justice had set a new example of judiciary’s independence.

He said that Justice Iftikhar was the symbol of independent judiciary and accepting the so-called ‘minus-one’ formula would be tantamount to endorsing the dictatorial steps.

He said that some hidden hands were trying to divide the lawyers’ community and create misunderstanding between parliament and lawyers on the issue of reinstatement.

Praising the struggle of lawyers, Justice Bhagwandas said unity between lawyers and the civil society would guarantee constitutional and fundamental rights of the people and strengthen the rule of law for safeguarding the interests of all institutions.

Balochistan Bar Association president Baz Mohammad Kakar and Balochistan High Court Bar Association president Shakeel Ahmed Hadi also spoke on the occasion.