ISLAMABAD, Oct 17: An international think-tank has urged the PPP-led coalition government to reinstate all judges, including Chief Justice Iftikhar Muhammad Chaudhry, sacked by former president Pervez Musharraf on Nov 3 last year.

In a report on ‘Reforming the Judiciary in Pakistan’, the International Crisis Group (ICG), an independent non-governmental organisation working in some 60 countries, urged the government to reverse all constitutional and legal changes introduced by the military regime.

“Pakistan’s return to civilian government after eight years of military rule and the sidelining of the military’s religious allies in the elections offer an opportunity to restore the rule of law and to review and repeal discriminatory religious laws that restrict fundamental rights, fuel extremism and destabilise the country,” the report said.

“Such reforms would remove all legal cover under which extremists target their rivals and exploit a culture of violence and impunity while strengthening the transition to democracy at a time when it was being undermined by worsening violence.”

It called for introduction of a constitutional amendment bill, after a broad public consultation and extensive parliamentary debate, to restore and enhance the 1973 Constitution’s liberal parliamentary structure by ensuring religious equality and repealing Musharraf’s Seventeenth Constitution Amendment, including Article 58-2(b).

The report also recommends that amendments should also consider removing the constitutional requirement for the president and the prime minister to be Muslims. Besides, the constitution should abolish the Federal Shariat Court and reaffirm the authority of ordinary courts to examine whether a law is repugnant to Islam.

“Setting up of a Judicial Commission to consider appointments of the superior court judges, guided by the Charter of Democracy”, should also be provided.

The rule of seniority in the appointment of chief justices in the superior judiciary should be strictly adhered to and the commission should be empowered to take disciplinary action against sitting judges.

The amendments should also render invalid appointments to the superior judiciary if the oath of adherence to the constitution is violated and discourage opportunities for executive interference in the higher judiciary by immediately ending the practice of appointing retired judges to executive posts until two years after retirement.

The report also suggests amending the constitution to curtail chief justices’ power over transfer of judges and assignment of cases and establish professional and managerial divisions within the courts for this task.

The report also calls for a commitment to fulfil in letter and spirit all constitutional and international obligations and to follow the precedent of the Supreme Court judgment in the Hasba Bill case, by repealing all laws that discriminate on the basis of religion and gender, including the blasphemy law, anti-Ahmadi laws, Hudood Ordinances and Qisas and Diyat law and identify and penalise subordinate court judges who fail to provide fair trials to women and religious and sectarian minorities.

The report suggests promotion of broad public dialogue and meaningful parliamentary debate on discrimination in the Pakistan Penal Code and calls for fulfilling the commitments to commute death penalty convictions to life imprisonment and encourage a public debate on abolishing the death penalty.

The report asks the international community, particularly the European Union and the US, to persuade the Pakistan government to repeal discriminatory religious laws and comply with international obligations on human rights and religious freedoms, including the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights and the International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights.

The report also calls for withdrawal of OIC’s anti-defamation resolution in the UN Human Rights Council.