KARACHI, March 20: Speakers at a demonstration on Tuesday condemning General Musharraf for taking an illegal action against the Chief Justice of Pakistan demanded that Justice Iftikhar Mohammad Chaudhry be reinstated.

Speaking at a women’s demonstration, organised by the MMA at Idara Noor-i-Haq, MMA leaders Professor Ghafoor Ahmad, Dr Mairajul Huda Siddiqui, Durdana Siddiqui, Nasrullah Shaji and others said the entire country was being humiliated in the world owing to the illegal action taken against the chief justice.

They said General Musharraf had attacked judiciary so that it followed the dictates given to it by the military rulers, but the resistance showed by Justice Iftikhar Chaudhry raised the credibility of judiciary and proved that the judiciary was not ready to accept the illegal acts.

They said the judges who had administrated oath and those taking oath of the acting chief justice violated the Constitution. They said under the Constitution senior most judge, in this case Justice Rana Bhagwandas, should have been made the acting chief justice and in his absence the rulers should have waited for his return.

They said the Supreme Judicial Council did not have any right to put restrictions on media and could not direct it not to print any news regarding the case. Holding placards and banners, the protesters chanted slogans in support of their demands.

Meanwhile, in a statement issued on Tuesday, MMA leaders Mohammad Husain Mehnati and Laiq Khan the MQM kept silent when people and all political parties had joined hands against the military rulers. They said though the MQM had always claimed to join any movement launched to get the generals out of politics, the silence they observed exposed that they were the supporters of the establishment.