November 18, 2008	Tuesday	Ziqa'ad 19, 1429

NEW YORK, Nov 17: Deposed Chief Justice Iftikhar Mohammad Chaudhry received a standing ovation from a huge crowd of Pakistani-Americans in Brooklyn (New York) on Sunday evening.

Justice Iftikhar who has come to the United States to receive awards from New York Bar Association and Harvard Law School did not address the crowd.

Former President of the Supreme Court Bar Association Aitzaz Ahsan said in his speech that in order to make Pakistan truly independent and honourable nation restoration of the deposed chief justice was a pre-requisite.

“He is a symbol of independent judiciary which all Pakistanis want,” he said.

The meeting was organised by Pakistani-American lawyers led by Ramzan Rana.

The organisers repeatedly appealed to the audience not to raise political slogans. However, slogans were raised against President Asif Zardari’s position on the restoration of judges.

At one stage, some people repeatedly called for Mr Ahsan’s resignation from the PPP.

After ignoring them for some time, Mr Ahsan shot back, “I will not resign from PPP. I’m the Pakistan People’s Party!”

He said Justice Iftikhar had maintained judicial restraint and never responded to criticism from some politicians or to opinions expressed in television talk shows.

He said Justice Iftikhar’s restoration was all the more important because if it was not done there would never be an independent judiciary in the country.

Mr Ahsan said Pakistan’s top political leaders, Asif Ali Zardari, Mian Nawaz Sharif, Asfandyar Wali and Maulana Fazlur Rehman, had made written and oral commitments with the nation to restore all deposed judges, but so far that promise had not been fulfilled.