Islamabad, March 15
The Supreme Court on Wednesday took suo motu notice of the police manhandling of suspended Chief Justice Iftikhar Mohammad Chaudhry. On Tuesday, Justice Chaudhry was roughed up by the police for refusing to ride an official car and attempting to march towards the Supreme Court to attend the proceedings of the Supreme Judicial Council (SJC) against him. His wife and daughters were also reportedly manhandled by policemen.

"I have taken suo motu notice of the incident and directed a full-fledged inquiry to see how the police could mistreat him," said Acting Chief Justice Javed Iqbal, adding that it was his decision to take suo motu notice of the incident.

He was talking to reporters after a ceremony held to administer oath to Justice Hamid Ali Mirza (retd), whose tenure as ad hoc judge of the Supreme Court has been extended for six months from Wednesday. Justice Mirza had been first appointed on ad hoc basis on his retirement as judge of the Supreme Court on September 14, 2005.

Notices have been served on IGP Chaudhry Iftikhar, DIG Islamabad Shahid Nadeem Baloch, SSP Islamabad Capt (retd) Zafar Iqbal Awan and DSP I-9 Circle Jamil Hashmi. They have been asked to appear before the Supreme Court on March 19.

Referring to his appointment as the acting chief justice, Justice Javed Iqbal pointed out that a grave constitutional void would have occurred had he not taken oath as acting chief justice.

He asked if it was possible to keep the post of the acting chief justice vacant when the senior-most judge of the Supreme Court, Justice Rana Bhagwandas, had been away from the country for almost four months.

There has been no information about Justice Bhagwandas since Friday when Justice Chaudhry was made non-functional through a notification by President Pervez Musharraf.

The chamber of Justice Bhagwandas, who is to join his office on March 23, is locked and nobody is picking up the telephone at his residence. Even his close relatives are reluctant to divulge any information about him.

The acting chief justice informed the reporters that even the Supreme Court was not in contact with Justice Bhagwandas and his mobile phone was not responding.

Justice Iqbal was critical of television channels for inviting in their talk shows people who had no knowledge of the law.

Such debates and discussions always created doubts in the minds of the people, he said, adding that it was not the job of the media to cause anxiety and panic in society.

— By arrangement with The Dawn

The government has carried out a major crackdown against political activists and lawyers rounding up scores of them in various cities ahead of Friday’s hearing in the Presidential Reference against Supreme Court Chief Justice Iftikhar Mohammad Khan.

Scores of political leaders and bar activists were rounded up in Lahore, Rawalpindi and some other major cities.

Security arrangements were tightened and nearly 4,000 policemen and contingents of Elite Force have been called from Punjab and other towns to Islamabad to maintain law and order.

The Opposition has called for a strike and vowed to defy all restrictions to stage a rally outside the Supreme Court. Bar associations have also sent their representatives to Islamabad to hold separate demonstration outside the court.

The defence counsel led by Chaudhry Aiutzaz Ahsan have challenged the composition of the council and its competence to hear the reference. Ahsan said he would also raise the issue of government excesses against Iftikhar. Legal experts say the proceedings can prolong for months.

Musharraf, while addressing a public rally today, defended his rights to send the reference to the country and said he would accept the decision of the council. He said the Opposition and the lawyers were trying to politicise a purely judicial and constitutional issue. 

A restraining directive to the media issued by the registrar of the supreme judicial council (SJC) has triggered a fierce controversy amid protests by media organisations and jurists who have questioned its validity and wide scope.

The issue has been further complicated by the way cabinet ministers have interpreted it claiming that it imposes strict curbs on the media against reporting or commenting on anything “concerning” the presidential reference against Chief Justice of the supreme court Iftikhar Mohammad Chaudhry.

Information minister Mahmud Ali Durrani has gone a notch further and maintained that even the directive itself cannot be debate or criticised. The electronic and print media on Thursday rejected this interpretation imposing a blanket ban on any reference to the presidential reference. They termed the government interpretation as an attempt to put the press under severe control.

“The SJC in its meeting on Tuesday issued no such gag order,” eminent jurist and Iftikhar’s attorney Chaudhry Aitzaz Ahsan told a private TV channel. He said the media could not report or comment the proceedings held in camera. “There is no other restriction to debate the aspects of the reference, including the fact that the defence has questioned the competence and legality of the composition of the council.”

The presidential reference against (non-functional) Chief Justice Iftikhar Mohammad Chaudhry had an unintended collateral impact - it changed the media scene in Pakistan and opened up new vistas of press freedom. The government is hell bent to roll back this remarkable phenomenon.

The government is pursuing a two-pronged strategy. “On the one hand it is terrorising the media to prevent it from any kind of reporting and comments,” wrote independent English daily The Nation. “Simultaneously a concerted campaign to malign and degrade Justice Iftikhar Ali is continuing. From information minister Durrani to Sindh Chief Minister Arbab Ghulam Rahim, law minister Wasi Zafar to Punjab Chief Minister Pervez Elahi, all are orchestrating a malicious drive to discredit Justice Iftikhar. Their tone is demeaning and words repelling.”

The directive assigns the task to manage the media to the information ministry and the Pakistan electronic media regulatory authority (PEMRA). Journalists protested that both these institutions are working to chain the media. They maintained that the judiciary is expected to always protect the rights and freedoms of the citizens against the excesses of the executive.

Traditionally it has allowed the press to use its discretion and propriety on matters concerning the court. “The authority given to the ministry and the PEMRA would put the wheels back to colonial era,” said a commentator.

Public outrage over the reference, the mode of its execution and the subsequent treatment meted out to Iftikhar had put the government on the defencive and benumbed and immobilised it in handling the media. 

The government of Nepal on Thursday decided to condense the size of staff in the Narayanhit Royal Palace of King Gyanendra by 75 per cent.

A meeting of the Council of Ministers held at the office of prime minister Girija Prasad Koirala this morning decided to cut off the number of staffs at the palace, said government spokesperson and minister of state for information and communication Dilendra Prasad Badu.

The Cabinet, which had earlier been in meeting because of his frail health, today held the meeting at the Koirala’s office in Singha Durbar.

According to a government source, 50 per cent of the employees at the palace will be appointed in various administrative offices, excluding civil service and about 25 per cent other will receive chance to opt for voluntary retirement. At present, over 750 employees are serving at the palace.

The Cabinet meeting also decided to reduce the number of security personnel of the Nepalis Army in the palace.

The government gook the decision just a day after publishing a report that some Nepali and Indian Hindu pundits, including Pashupati Bhakta Maharjan the Principal Secretary of the King gathered in Brindavan of India and organised a nine day long mahayagya (religious ceramony) to protect the fate of the King as reinstatement of the country as a Hindu Kingdom.