PESHAWAR, Dec 5: Deposed Chief Justice of the Peshawar High Court Justice Tariq Pervez Khan has said that he will not accept any offer for his restoration unless Chief Justice of Pakistan Justice Iftikhar Mohammad Chaudhry is restored.

“By issuing notifications regarding removal of some judges of three high courts the government has tried to create a rift among judges who did not take oath under the Provisional Constitution Order, but such designs won’t succeed,” Justice Tariq said while addressing a gathering of lawyers at the Peshawar High Court on Wednesday.

A government notification issued on Tuesday said that Justice Ijaz Afzal Khan and Justice Dost Muhammad Khan had ceased to be judges of the PHC.

However, the names of Justice Tariq and Justice Shahjehan Khan Yousafzai, the two other judges who had not taken fresh oath after Nov 3, were not mentioned in the notification, creating an impression that they might be restored.

Justice Tariq’s sudden appearance at the high court sparked jubilation among the protesting lawyers who have been boycotting the court for one month. They showered rose petals on him and chanted slogans of ‘Long live Chief Justice Tariq Pervez’ and ‘Go Musharraf go’.

Justice Tariq said he had decided to visit the bar to dispel any misgivings about himself.

He said the independent judges who had not taken oath under the PCO were united and they believed that those who had taken a fresh oath had violated the order of the Supreme Court and the Constitution.

“The demand for restoration of the independent judges is wrong as they are still judges of the superior courts,” he said.

He said the government had tried to persuade him and Justice Shahjehan to take a fresh oath but they had refused to do so.

The lawyers’ continuing struggle for independence of the judiciary had energised the entire nation as well as the independent judges, Justice Tariq said, adding that they were fighting a battle for the survival of Pakistan.

He was of the opinion that participation of political parties in general elections would not serve any purpose as long as Article 58(2b) was in the Constitution, because in the event of dissolution of an assembly the final decision would be taken by judges who had taken oath under the PCO.

“General elections are meaningless in the absence of an independent judiciary,” he said.

About JUI(F) leader Maulana Fazlur Rehman’s statement that the judges who had refused to take oath under the PCO had taken a similar oath in 2000, he said that at that time fundamental rights had not been suspended and the Constitution was intact.

Later, lawyers took Justice Tariq on their shoulders to the nearby ‘Justice Square’ from where he was taken to his home in a procession.

The meeting was also addressed by PHC Bar Association vice-president Mian Abdul Fayyaz.