September 06, 2008	Saturday	Ramazan 05, 1429

PESHAWAR, Sept 5: Lawyers’ representatives have expressed mixed reaction over taking of fresh oath by the Peshawar High Court’s chief justice and two other deposed judges with some of them terming it a partial victory of the lawyers’ movement.

The vice chairman of Pakistan Bar Council, Rehman Khan, stated that although the mechanism adopted for restoration of judges was not correct, it was a partial victory of the lawyers’ movement.

He told journalists at the Peshawar High Court that there should not be any pick and choose in restoration of judges and all the deposed judges should be reinstated.

“The restoration of judges without the restoration of Chief Justice Iftikhar Muhamamd Chaudhry is like offering prayer without a prayer leader (imam),” he added.

The PHC Bar Association’s president Abdul Lateef Afridi said that the restoration of judges was their demand from the very first day of their removal. He asked the government to restore all the deposed judges without any discrimination or distinction.

Mr Afridi said that the way to restore the judges was not appropriate, but still it was a good sign that competent judges had been returning back to the bench. He added that they still stood by their stand that the Nov 3 emergency and taking of oath by the judges under the PCO was unconstitutional and illegal.

The secretary general of PHCBA, Mohammad Essa Khan, termed the taking of fresh oath by the judges as unconstitutional and illegal. “There is no difference between taking fresh oath under the PCO and taking fresh oath under the constitution,” he maintained.

Mr Khan said that by giving fresh oath to the judges the government had accepted the Nov 3 imposition of emergency as legal and similarly, the judges taking oath had also accepted that the their removal was in line with the constitution.

The provincial convener of Peoples Lawyers Forum, Barrister Masood Kausar, welcomed the taking of oath by judges and stated that some elements had been using the issue for getting political mileage. He added that some judges had become hostage to whims of a few lawyers

Former president of PHCBA, Syed Attique Shah, hailed the move and stated that the country could no longer sustain confrontation. “The restoration of judges will help in getting rid of the growing number of pending cases,” he added.

Barrister Baacha stated that there was great difference between reappointment and restoration of judges. He added that the notification of reappointment of the judges was in conflict with the constitution.

He said that the reappointment would affect their seniority as in future this issue could be challenged before the court.

Mr Baacha said that the movement launched for restoration of the pre-Nov 3 judiciary was not only of lawyers but also of political and social activists, media and civil society groups. He added that it was their joint stand that judges should be restored through an executive order.