KARACHI, March 14: Speakers at an ‘All Parties Conference’, criticising the suspension of Chief Justice of Pakistan Iftikhar Muhammad Chaudhry, termed it a violation of the constitution.

They were speaking on Wednesday at an APC convened by Jamaat-i-Islami here on the ‘Murder of the judiciary’.

They alleged that when the CJP refused to agree with the rulers to settle matters according to their wishes, he was stopped from working after keeping him in confinement for several hours. They said the president had right to file reference in the Supreme Judicial Council (SJC) but no power to suspend the chief justice.

Similarly, the procedure adopted in constituting the SJC by not inducting the senior-most judge after the CJP was beyond the constitution, the speakers said. — PPI