LAHORE, Dec 1: Former judges of the Supreme Court and high courts have showered praise on deposed chief justice Iftikhar Muhammad Chaudhry and condemned harassment of the judges who refused oath under the Provisional Constitution Order.

According to a statement issued here on Saturday, the Supreme Court’s former judges, who were all praise for the ‘victimised’ lot, were: Nasim Hassan Shah, Muhammad Afzal Lone, Zia Mahmood Mirza, Raja Afrasiyab, Khalilur Rehman Khan, Chaudhry Muhammad Arif, Muhammad Rafiq Tarar, A.S. Salaam, Manzoor Husain Sial, Fazal Karim, Dr Javid Iqbal and Tanveer Ahmad Khan.

The judges of the high courts included Mian Mehboob Ahmad, C.A. Rehman, Rao Iqbal Ahmad Khan, Sharif Husain Bokhari, Ameer Alam Khan, Sardar Muhammad Iqbal, Akhtar Hassan and Mian Allah Nawaz.

“We, the former judges of the superior courts, applaud Chief Justice Iftikhar Chaudhry and all honourable judges who declined to take oath under the PCO,” read the statement.

“Your action has purged the judiciary of the stigma it carried of legitimising military rule on the misconceived notion of the law of necessity. No parallel can be found of the manner that judges of superior courts have been treated by this regime,” it added.

“We are alarmed at credible reports of continuous harassment and blackmail of judges by the government. Many of them are under house arrest along with their family members, but are now being illegally ordered to vacate their official residences,” it said.

“Petitions are filed with the Supreme Court with the collusion of the PCO bench to rubber stamp the election of the president and validate all his illegal actions and ordinances. Such tricks have made a mockery of the justice system of Pakistan,” it said.

Assuring the deposed judges of being with them, they demanded that the 1973 Constitution should be revived in its pristine form and the judges restored to Nov 2 status. The PCO and emergency rule be withdrawn and all those arrested under it released forthwith and curbs on the media withdrawn,” it added.

The former judges also called for a level playing-field in the election which, they said, should be held under the supervision of an independent election commission.