LAHORE, Oct 13: Supreme Court Bar Association (SCBA) President Chaudhry Aitzaz Ahsan has said that deposed chief justice Iftikhar Muhammad Chaudhry has been nominated for the Nobel prize.

Talking to newsmen after filing the nomination papers of Ali Ahmed Kurd for election to the office of president of the SCBA at the Supreme Court Registry here on Monday, he said that Justice Chaudhry would also visit New York in November this year where life membership of the New York Bar would be conferred on him.

He said that the Pakistan Bar Council (PBC) could not cancel the licences of the lawyers and senior lawyers sitting in the PBC should themselves consider the legality of actions being taken by them.

The council was transgressing its powers by canceling the licences of the lawyers, he added.

He said the movement for the restoration of judiciary would get a new impetus after the election of Kurd as the SCBA president. The bar considered Nov 3 action of General Pervez Musharraf unconstitutional and would continue its movement till the restoration of Justice Chaudhry as the chief justice of Pakistan.

He said that an independent judiciary was necessary not only for the enforcement of law but for promotion of foreign investment as well. Investment was not possible in a society where it was not protected through proper enforcement of law. Only an independent judiciary could ensure proper enforcement of law, he added.

Kurd said that he would continue the lawyers’ movement for the restoration of independent judiciary after election as SCBA president. The movement would be continued till the restoration of Justice Iftikhar as the chief justice of Pakistan. He said that there should be enthusiasm in the movement but it should remain within the limits of law.