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Lawyers protest against Pak CJ’s suspension
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‘World’s oldest person’ dies
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Lawyers protest against Pak CJ’s suspension Quetta, March 10 The lawyers rallied in Quetta as legal organisations met in major cities to discuss the removal of Iftikhar Mohammed Chaudhry — a judge with a reputation for cracking down on government misdeeds and human rights abuses. Lawyers in the eastern city of Lahore and southern city of Karachi also boycotted court proceedings. Musharraf summoned Chaudhry to his office near Islamabad yesterday and asked him to resign for alleged misconduct, according to Amir Rana, a nephew of Chaudhry. “He refused to do it,” Rana said. Rana said Chaudhry was being victimised for political reasons. “The Chief Justice of Pakistan has been disgraced. He is being pressured to resign, and his movement has been restricted,” he said. Information Minister Mohammed Ali Durrani said Musharraf removed Chaudhry for “misuse of authority,” but gave no further details. Hours after Chaudhry’s removal, Wasi Zafar, the federal minister for Law, Justice and Human Rights, told state media the Chief Justice had been made “nonfunctional”. The Supreme Judicial Council, a panel of top judges that adjudicates cases brought against serving judges, is to hear the case against Chaudhry on Tuesday. Attorney Sakhi Sultan told a rally in Quetta that Chaudhry had wrongly been punished. “How can the President remove the Chief Justice like this,” he said. “We will continue our protest against his removal.” Suspended CJprevented from attending office Meanwhile sacked Chief Justice of Pakistan’s Supreme Court Iftikhar Mohammed Chaudhry was prevented from going to his office in the apex court and driven home under heavy police escort, shortly after the orders for his removal came yesterday. After his meeting with President Pervez Musharraf in Army House in Rawalpindi, during which Justice Chaudhry “failed” to answer pointed questions relating to allegations of corruption and misuse of authority against him, the judge tried to go to his office in the apex court but a strong police posse chased his car and blocked his way a little distance away from the court. In the meantime, Senior Superintendent of Police Tariq Yasin rushed to the spot and escorted Chaudhary to his official residence. The security outside his residence had already been increased, and it was not possible to even contact him on telephone and Justice Chaudhry remained “incommunicado”, local daily ‘Dawn’ reported. Chaudhry has been asked to appear before the five-judge judicial council, headed by acting Chief Justice Javed Iqbal on March 13. — AP, PTI
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San Salvador, March 10 Cruz Hernandez, who national birth records show was born on May 3, 1878, in central El Salvador, passed away in her sleep on Thursday, neighbour and close family friend Margarita Ascencio said by telephone. Hernandez died without being recognised by the Guinness Book of Records. “She had been poorly for a few days, and yesterday, after eating a tamale and drinking some milk, she went to sleep and never woke up,” Ascencio said. Hernandez gave birth to 13 children and ended up with at least 60 grandchildren, 80 great-grandchildren and 25 great-great grandchildren. Many who knew her attributed her longevity to her favourite drink of a beer with two raw eggs in it. — Reuters
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