M A I N   N E W S

Pakistan's Chief Justice, other judges replaced
15 judges refuse to swear allegiance to military government

ISLAMABAD, January 26 (PTI) — Pakistan's military government replaced the Chief Justice of the Supreme Court and other judges after they refused to swear a new oath under a provisional constitution designed to protect the military against legal action

The new Chief Justice, Irshad Hassan Khan, was administered the oath by President Muhammad Rafiq Tarar at a simple ceremony in the capital. Six other judges of the Supreme Court were also sworn in.

They are Justice Muhammad Bashir Jehangiri, Justice Sheikh Ejaz Nisar, Justice Abdul Rehman Khan, Justice Sheik Riaz Ahmed, Justice Chaudhry Arif and Justice Munir a Sheikh.

Gen. Musharraf, members of the National Security Council, Federal Ministers and senior military and civil officials were present on the occasion.

Fazle-Elahi Khan took oath as the Chief Justice of the Federal Shariat court. Three others, Fida Ahmed Khan, Mohammed Khiyar and Chaudhry Ejaz Yousaf were also sworn in.

Musharraf defended the decision to administer the oath to the judges of the superior court as a decision taken in national interest.

"Whatever has happened is in the best national interest of the country," he told newsmen briefly after the swearing-in ceremony. Replying to a query he said: "I reserve further comments."

Earlier, 15 judges of Supreme Court and High Courts in Pakistan, including the country's Chief Justice, had refused to take a fresh oath.

The judges who defied the order issued last night by Gen Musharraf, included six from the Supreme Court including Chief Justice Saeeduzaman Siddiqui, three of the Sindh High Court, four of the Peshawar High Court and two of the Lahore High Court.

However, all judges of the Baluchistan High Court took a fresh oath under the Provisional Constitutional Order (PCO) promulgated two days after the army takeover on October 12 last year.

Justice Siddiqui, who resigned and was replaced by Justice Irshad Hassan Khan, told reporters that "taking oath under the PCO, in my opinion, will be a deviation from the oath I had taken to defend the constitution."

"They (the military regime) asked me to take oath under PCO, I declined...I have said on many occasions that I will remain in office as long as I am allowed to work under the constitution."

Gen. Musharraf, after taking over the country, had suspended constitution and imposed a state of emergency but left the judiciary untouched.

Reacting to the development, the Pakistan Muslim League of ousted Premier Nawaz Sharif, said asking judges to take a fresh oath under the PCO amounted to imposition of full-fledged martial law in the country.

In reply to a question, Justice Siddiqui said his resignation had no link with the trial of the deposed premier.

According to emergency rule established under the provisional constitution, it is illegal to challenge any act of the army.

By his order Gen Musharraf seeks to ensure that any challenge to the military regime will not be admitted in a court of law.

The order assumes significance in view of petitions pending before the Supreme Court challenging the army takeover. Lawyers of Sharif, who is facing terrorism and hijacking charges, today sought adjournment of the trial until the petitions in the Supreme Court were heard.

The last time judges in Pakistan were asked to take oath afresh under a provisional constitution was during the rule of Gen Mohammed Zia-ul-Haq. At that time also several judges had refused to retake the oath.

Javed Jabbar, Information Advisor to Gen Musharraf, defended the order saying "it was done in accordance with the terms and language of the PCO issued in October last year."

This was simply a continuation of the process initiated at the time of the proclamation of emergency in the country, he said adding "what has been done is in national interest."

Judicial overhaul draws flak

ISLAMABAD, Jan 26 (AFP) —A sudden shake-up of Pakistan's judiciary by the country's military regime today angered lawyers and human rights activists, but several said it was not unexpected after the military coup.

At the Supreme Court a new Chief Justice took over, after the military ruler Gen. Pervez Musharraf ordered judges to take a new oath under the legal framework decreed after the October coup.

Justice Irshad Hassan Khan stepped in as Chief Justice, replacing justice Saeed Uz Zaman Siddiqui, who along with five of the 13 Supreme Court judges refused to swear the oath.

Lawyers have been asked to stay away from courts tomorrow in protest over the move, which came 14 weeks after Musharraf seized power, said a leader from Punjab Provincial High Court Bar Association, Mian Abbas Ahmed.

Ahmed, speaking at a news conference in Multan where he is president of the local branch of the association, said the regime's order was aimed at "bringing the judiciary under its control."

"The institution stands degraded," the deputy chairman of Pakistan Bar Council, Sheikh Naeem Goreja, told the conference.

Goreja described the changes as a "blow to the independence of the judiciary."

He said a meeting of the bar council would be called soon to consider the implications of the new development.

Musharraf's order said a judge who does not take the prescribed oath would cease to hold office.

The judges who do "shall be bound" by the provisions of the proclamation of emergency and the provisional constitution order, enforced after the October 12 coup, the order said.

Hamid Khan, a former president of the High Court Bar Association in Punjab, said: "the judicial overhaul creates a mess and represents a setback for the judiciary's image."

"It is an attack on the independence of the judiciary and we cannot remain silent," he said.

Javed Jilani, president of the Bar in Punjab, said it was a "natural, logical outcome" after the military takeover. "It should have happened immediately after the coup."

Hina Jilani, a leader of Human Rights Commission of Pakistan (HRCP), said it was an "unfortunate development."

She said only an independent judiciary could safeguard the rule of law in the country.

The head of the commission, Afrasiab Khattak, said the military-led government "has gone further down the anti-democratic road."

"They have put an end to the pretence that the country was still being constitutionally governed," Khattak said.

"It has struck a blow even at the appearance of an independent judiciary. By its swearing of new allegiance, the judiciary has become a creature not of the constitution but of the chief of the army," he said.