LONDON, May 27: Justice (R) Majida Razvi, former head of the Women’s Commission, has said that the reinstatement of judges deposed by Pervez Musharraf under emergency powers which he himself had called unconstitutional was an essential pre-requisite for the establishment of an independent judiciary in Pakistan.

She was talking to Dawn after attending the launch of the Amnesty International’s Report for 2008.

When told that Benazir Bhutto in her last book (’Reconciliation’ page 228) had stated that during her meeting with Musharraf in July 2007 she had categorically rejected a proposal by him (as a part of their deal) to reduce the age of the retirement for members of superior judiciary “believing it would start a new round of confrontation with the judiciary,” Justice Razvi said she was not in a position to comment on the matter but believed that it was important that the judicial crisis was resolved to the satisfaction of the majority of the people of Pakistan at the earliest.

Justice Razvi who was the first female high court judge in Pakistan said that although she had not been able to actively participate in the lawyers’ movement her sympathies and support were with the movement.