WASHINGTON, Dec 9: President Pervez Musharraf on Sunday categorically rejected the possibility of reinstating deposed Chief Justice Iftikhar Chaudhry and other judges of the superior courts, saying there was no room for Mr Chaudhry as the country already had a new chief justice.

In an interview to CNN, the president also promised that the emergency would be lifted on Dec 15 and the elections would be held on Jan 8, as scheduled.

The legislation to revoke the Provisional Constitution Order was in its final stages and the Constitution would be revived by Dec 15, he added.

The president became visibly upset when questioned about the possibility of reinstating the former chief justice.

“No, not at all, he is no more the Chief Justice of Pakistan, the Chief Justice of Pakistan is Mr Dogar,” he said.

“Mr Dogar is the Chief Justice now, and he remains there.” Although Mr Chaudhry and other judges were pushed aside when the president imposed emergency rule, Mr Musharraf said there’s no need for reconsidering the earlier decision when the Constitution is restored.

“There are judges in the Supreme Court and the high courts and they are there – nobody is being allowed to go back,” he said. The president blamed the former judges for creating a situation that led to the imposition of emergency, although later in the interview he also cited insurgency in Swat and other places for abrogating the Constitution on Nov 3.

“What was happening was that the complete executive machinery was in near paralysis. The law-enforcement agencies were totally demoralised – and they were not acting. The supremacy of the parliament was totally violated,” he said.

Explaining why he thought the judiciary had challenged the supremacy of the parliament, Mr Musharraf said: “They gave me 57 per cent votes and yet they were not allowed to go through with their decisions.”