ISLAMABAD, Aug 4: A statement by the deposed chief justice of the Sindh High Court, Sabihuddin Ahmed, recently published in the form of a letter, has sparked a fresh debate whether a number of deposed judges were ready to take fresh oath “under the Constitution”, and whether it was any different from taking oath under the Provisional Constitution Order.

Justice Sabihuddin Ahmed’s statement, carried by Dawn on Sunday, makes a clear distinction between taking oath under the PCO and under the country’s constitution. He denied making any reference to the issue of fresh oath, but defended the decision taken by a large number of superior court judges to refuse an oath under the PCO on or after Nov 3 last year.

A large number of lawyers are opposed to the idea of judges taking a fresh oath, but there are reports that a number of the affected judges of the Sindh High Court, and from two other provinces, were considering accepting such a move as long as the oath was “under the country’s constitution and not the PCO”.

However, Justice Ahmed, while avoiding taking a clear stand on fresh oath, had declared that nobody had a right to assign any motive to the judges’ decision or indulge in any kind of character assassination because whatever decision they take, would be in consultation with their colleagues and what they considered to be “right in the best interest of the people and the independence of judiciary”.

This statement had sounded alarm bells among people in the forefront of lawyers’ movement as they support the immediate restoration of the pre-Nov 3 judiciary.

Justice Sabih’s statement comes in the backdrop of the government’s back-channel efforts to persuade judges to take a fresh oath or face losing their jobs since no restoration of any kind is in sight.

A source privy to the development conceded to Dawn that some judges of the Sindh High Court and the Lahore High Court were wavering because of intense pressure by the government, but an unsolved question about seniority was preventing them from giving a final nod.

The president of the Supreme Court Bar Association, (SCBA) Barrister Aitzaz Ahsan, said that the lawyer’s movement would intensify “if some judges fall into government trap”.

According to him, such judges cannot be guaranteed seniority because a new oath implies a fresh appointment.

However, Barrister Ahsan was confident that no judge would opt for the offer and said it was the government which had become desperate. Dismissing the possibility of such an eventuality, Barrister Ahsan said even if any judge took a fresh oath, the lawyers’ movement would continue until the restoration of all deposed judges. “Taking of fresh oath … would mean that the judges were validly dismissed on Nov 3 and are, therefore, accepting the validity of the PCO.”

NAEK OFFER: Meanwhile, Law Minister Farooq Naek has once again offered the deposed judges to take fresh oaths under the Third Schedule of the Constitution, saying that political rallies and demonstrations were no answer to the problem.