Iftikhar Muhammad Chaudhry

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Iftikhar Muhammad Chaudhry
افتخار محمد چودھری
In office
30 June 2005 – 3 November 2007
Preceded by Nazim Hussain Siddiqui
Succeeded by Abdul Hameed Dogar
Born 12 December 1948 (1948-12-12) (age 60)
Quetta, Pakistan
Nationality Flag of Pakistan Pakistani

Iftikhar Muhammad Chaudhry (Urdu: افتخار محمد چودھری) (born 12 December 1948 in Faislabad) was the 20th Chief Justice of Pakistan. He was appointed as Chief Justice by Pakistani President Gen. Pervez Musharraf on May 7, 2005.[1] He was suspended by President General Musharraf on March 9, 2007, on alleged charges when he refused to oblige Musharraf by refusing to resign but was reinstated by an order of the Supreme Court on July 20, 2007. This was the first recorded case of such suspension in the history of Pakistani democracy[citation needed].

After having been elected as President for second term by the elected Parliament, Musharraf in November 2007 pre-empted an impending court decision against his re-election and suspended the constitution and declared a state of emergency.[2] Justice Chaudhry reacted promptly, convening a seven-member bench which issued an already prepared interim order against this action.[3]

Chaudhry has a Bachelors in Arts and Bachelors in Law (LLB) from Jamshoro-Sindh. He joined the bar in 1974. Later, he was enrolled as Advocate of the High Court in 1976 and as an Advocate of the Supreme Court in 1985. In 1989 he was appointed as Advocate General, Balochistan, and later got elevated as Additional Judge, Balochistan High Court in 6 November 1990 until 21 April 1999.[4]

Besides remaining as Judge of High Court, he discharged duties as Banking Judge, Judge Special Court for Speedy Trials, Judge Customs Appellate Courts as well as Company Judge. Justice Iftikhar Muhammad Chaudhry also remained President of High Court Bar Association, Quetta, and was elected twice as Member, Bar Council. Later, he was appointed as Chairman, Balochistan Local Council Election Authority in 1992 and thereafter for second term in 1998. He also worked as Chairman, Provincial Review Board for the province of Balochistan. He was twice appointed as Chairman, Pakistan Red Crescent Society, Balochistan.

At present, Justice Iftikhar is also functioning as Chairman, Enrollment Committee of Pakistan Bar Council and as Chairman, Supreme Court Building Committee. He was appointed as Chief Justice High Court of Balochistan on 22 April 1999.[4]

In January 2000 Chief Executive General Musharraf dictated that all superior court judges swear a new oath under the Provisional Constitutional Order No.1 issued on October 15, 1999, which had suspended the Constitution of Pakistan. After swearing an oath on the PCO Justice Iftikhar was elevated to the Supreme Court on 4 February 2000. He was appointed as Chief Justice of Pakistan on 7 May 2005 by President General Pervez Musharraf.[5] Justice Iftikhar Muhammad Chaudhry is the senior-most judge among the sitting judges of the Court after the outgoing Chief Justice Nazim Hussain Siddiqui. Justice Iftikhar Muhammad Chaudhry assumed the office of Chief Justice on 30 June 2005.[4]

[edit] Validation of Musharraf Military Rule

Main article: Validation of Musharraf Military Rule

In January 2000, Justice Iftikhar Chaudhry then a serving judge on the Balochistan High Court (BHC) was one of the first judges to take an oath on the PCO. This allowed him to be elevated to the Supreme Court to fill one of the vacancies left by the 11 judges who had resigned in protest at taking this oath.

On May 13 2000, Justice Iftikhar Chaudhry was one of 12 Supreme Court judges who validated the military coup of General Pervez Musharraf. They ruled that the removal of the elected government of Nawaz Sharif was legal on the basis of the "doctrine of necessity".

In June 2001, Justice Iftikhar Chaudhry was one of two judges who visited the Presidency House to convince the then President Rafiq Tarrar to resign, and make way for General Pervez Musharraf to assume that office.

On April 13 2005, in the "Judgment on 17th Amendment and President's Uniform Case", Justice Iftikhar Chaudhry was one of 5 Supreme Court judges who dismissed all petitions challenging President Musharraf's consistitutional amendments. In a wide ranging judgement they declared that the Legal Framework Order (LFO) instituted by General Musharraf after his suspension of the constitution, the 17th amendment which gave this constitutional backing, and the two offices bill which allowed Musharraf to retain his military uniform whilst being President were all legal.

[edit] Pakistan Steel Mills Privatization

Main article: Pakistan Steel Mills

In 2007, the Supreme court ruled against the government, saying that the selling of Pakistan Steel Mills to a group including Arif Habib, former client and friend of PM Shaukat Aziz, was done in "indecent haste".

President Pervez Musharraf administers the oath of the office of the Chief Justice of Pakistan to Justice Iftikhar Muhammad Chaudhry in 2005.

[edit] Hasba Bill case

Main article: Hasba bill

The Hasba bill also proposed powers for the police to ensure observance of Islamic practices and values while curbing palm reading and other superstitious customs deemed un-Islamic by the legislators.

General Pervez Musharraf petitioned the top court for an opinion after the Hasba bill was passed through North West Frontier Province's assembly.

"The governor of the province of NWFP may not assent to the Hasba bill in its present form," Chief Justice Iftikhar Muhammad Chaudhry, head of a panel of nine judges, told the court before listing several clauses in the bill deemed unconstitutional.

[edit] Missing people

Many people in Pakistan had been allegedly kidnapped by the American agencies (FBI, CIA) and Pakistani agencies (ISI, MI, IB) in pursuance of the "War on Terror." These people were arrested without any warrant or court order and denied any access to counsel as enshrined in the Constitution of Pakistan. These actions were challenged in the Supreme Court and a bench under the Chief Justice Iftikhar Muhammad Chaudhry took up the case. The complainants in the matter headed by Ms Amina Masood Janjua representing 254 missing persons and their families pleaded that the persons concerned be presented in front of a magistrate in line with the law and be given a trial.

The controversy over the matter increased after police baton charged demonstrators demanding released of their kin, stripping off demonstrators in the process which was pasted across the national newspapers increasing resentment against the government. The Supreme Court had the Ministry of Interior and the representatives of the military agencies directed to appear in the court and answer the issues raised causing ripples in Pakistan's powerful establishment [6].

As the case proceeded, the revelations during the proceedings increased public outrage on the matter. The government eventually released 107 missing persons, who narrated their stories of torture and solitary confinements at the hands of Pakistan 'law enforcement agencies', as well as names of others imprisoned with them.

It also became evident that most of the persons were detained for alleged links with the Secular Separatist insurgency in Balochistan and not Al Qaeda, also that many of detainees were there for personal differences ranging from property disputes to Imran Munir's case[7] whereby he refused to marry the daughter of an Army General.

The case is being pleaded by Fakhruddin G. Ebrahim and Asma Jahangir from the Human Rights Commission of Pakistan.[citation needed]

[edit] Cases for 2007

Some very important cases were heard in the supreme court in the 2007. Decisions have already been taken in some:

  • The case whether Nawaz Sharif (twice the former PM of Pakistan) could come back to Pakistan. Decision: Sharif can come back.[8]
  • The case on whether or not the President Pervez Musharraf could run in the election for the next Presidency term.

Two secret agents try to force the chief justice to sit in the car. One agent grasps the Chief Justice by the hair.
Main article: Iftikhar Muhammad Chaudhry (suspension)

On March 09, 2007, Chaudhry was suspended by Pakistani President Pervez Musharraf. Musharraf also filed a Presidential reference against Chaudhry for misconduct.

The suspension of Chaudhry was the first time in the 50-year history of the Pakistani Supreme Court that a Chief Justice was suspended. The court under Chief Justice Chaudhry had made rulings against governmental corruption, including the Pakistan Steel Mills case. The court had started taking suo moto notice in all walks of governance starting from prices of vegetables, song's lyrics to traffic congestion and made the executive totally ineffective.

After the event, there was unrest in the country with regard to the validity of the allegations against Chaudhry, as well as doubt as to whether Musharraf actually had the power to suspend the Chief Justice under the circumstances.[9]

On May 5, 2007, Chaudhry with his brother in law and best supporter Ahtazaz Ahmed who is also the party member of PPP traveled from Islamabad to Lahore to address the Lahore High Court Bar Association. Demonstrations of support along the route slowed his motorcade to the point that it took him 25 hours to reach the dinner the Association was holding in his honor.[10] This journey usually takes 4-5 hours on average.[citation needed] Demonstrators chanted not only slogans supporting Chaudrhy, but also openly called for Musharraf to step down. In his speech he criticized dictatorship and emphasized on the important of the rule of law.[11]

Public supporting Chief Justice in capital city of Islamabad.

On July 20, 2007, Chaudhry was reinstated to his position as Chief Justice in a ruling by the thirteen-member bench of Pakistani Supreme Court which also cleared him of the misconduct reference filed against him by Musharraf without even considering or investigating the allegations leveled against the Chief Justice. The ruling combined 25 constitutional petitions filed by Chaudhry and other interested parties, but referred most of the issues raised by the 24 petitions not filed by Chaudhry himself to lower courts for extended adjudication. All thirteen of the sitting justices agreed that Musharraf's action had been illegal, and ten of the thirteen ordered Chaudhry was to be reinstated and that he "shall be deemed to be holding the said office and shall always be deemed to have been so holding the same." It is also important to note that the lawyers of Musharraf tendered an unconditional apology for submitting frivilous documents in support of the alleged charges and the Federal Government was fined Rs. 100,000. [12]

On August 20, 2007 Ifikhar Mohammad threatened Tariq Pervez (the director-general of Pakistan's Federal Investigation Agency) with jail if he did not produce ghost detainee Hafiz Abdul Basit.[13] Chief Justice Chaudhry ordered "He must be produced today or you will be sent to the lock-up." Under this threat he was released by the intelligence agencies. Hafiz Basit was later implicated in the assassination of Ms Bhutto.[13]

Main article: 2007 Pakistani state of emergency

General Pervez Musharraf, who used to hold the office of the President and Chief of Army Staff of Pakistan, on Saturday, Nov 3, 2007 declared a state of emergency and suspended the nation's constitution and parliament at the same time.[14]. According to the 1973 Constitution of Pakistan the President of Pakistan can impose a state of emergency in the country, if he believe that circumstances exist that warrant it and has to get it validated from a sitting Parliament within 30 days.[15] However, the proclamation of state of emergency was announced, according to the proclamation, by him as the Chief of Army Staff and not the President of Pakistan, and as per legal scholars this is tantamount to martial law, as there is no provision present in the Constitution of Pakistan for an Army General to declare a state of emergency.

Further, according to the constitution, the state of emergency only suspends certain fundamental rights of citizens and all other structures and functions of the state remain functioning as normal, but through this proclamation the government had suspended the constitution itself and issued a provisional constitution order (PCO) in its place. This action is not allowed by any provision of the constitution.

After the imposition of emergency and suspension of constitution, Chaudhry constituted an eight-member bench of Supreme Court judges duly headed by himself, and immediately quashed the provisional constitution order, declaration of emergency and the suspension of the constitution, and ordered all civil and military personnel to ignore the order. He also ordered all the chief justices of high courts and judges of the Supreme Court and High Court not to take oath under the PCO. Soon after, on November 3, the Supreme Court was stormed by the 111th brigade of the Pakistan Army and Chaudhry was arrested along with seven other judges. Musharraf replaced Justice Chaudhry with Abdul Hameed Dogar as the de facto chief justice of Pakistan and also administered the oath of office to three other judges of the supreme court under the PCO. Justice Dogar later took a fresh oath on the constitution after it was restored and the PCO withdrawn.

Chaudhry's house was sealed and he was allowed limited visitors and no one met him officially until the new Prime Minister Yousaf Raza Gillani ordered to uplift the house arrest on his first day of premiership. However, he continued to denounce Musharraf's declaration of emergency and vowed to push for a return to the rule of law.[16] .

On 15 November Geo News reported that Chaudhry had ordered the Islamabad Inspector General of Police to take action against his and his family’s house arrest and their possible removal to Quetta. According to the channel, Chaudhry held the interior secretary, the commissioner, the deputy commissioner and the assistant commissioner responsible for his house arrest. He said he was still the Chief Justice of Pakistan and the official residence was his by right.[17]

On 18 November in a letter to prominent English-language newspaper The News he wrote: "I will fight till the last drop of my blood to save the Constitution of Pakistan and so will resist any move to deport me to some far-flung area with the intention to separate me from the lawyers and the Pakistani citizens".[18]

In February 2008, Chaudhry wrote an open letter to President Musharraf from house arrest.[19]

On March 24, 2008, the new Pakistani PM Yousaf Raza Gillani ordered Chaudhry's release from house arrest.[20][21]

In October 2008, Chaudhry returned to the Supreme Court building for the first time since his arrest. He has vowed to be reinstated as Chief Justice.[22]

“ As lawyers who value freedom and the rule of law, we at Harvard Law School want Chief Justice Chaudhry and all of the courageous lawyers in Pakistan to know that we stand with them in solidarity. We are proud to be their colleagues in the cause of justice, and we will do all we can to press for the prompt restoration of constitutionalism and legality in Pakistan. ”

— Elena Kagan, Harvard Law School's Dean, on the Justice Iftikhar's awarding.[23]

In the wake of the imposition of emergency rule in Pakistan, on November 14, 2007, the Harvard Law School Association[24] decided to award its highest honour, the Medal of Freedom, to Justice Iftikhar Chaudhry, following the military crackdown the previous week. He becomes the first Pakistani to be presented with such honour.

The Harvard Law School Medal of Freedom is given to selected personalities for their contributions to freedom, justice, and equality. Only two other people have been awarded this honor. The first was Charles Hamilton Houston, an African American lawyer and NAACP Litigation Director who helped play a role in dismantling the Jim Crow laws and helped train future Supreme Court justice Thurgood Marshall. Former South African President Nelson Mandela is the second.

As Iftikhar Chaudhry was under house arrest at that time, the school held a grand ceremony to award the medal hoping that its recipient will soon be released and allowed to attend. The same statement announcing the award identified Chaudhry as Pakistan’s chief justice and not as a deposed or former judge.[25][26]

Chief Justice Iftikhar Chaudhry formally received the Harvard Law School Medal of Freedom during his visit to the United States in November, 2008.[27]

The National Law Journal picked Mr. Chaudhry as the lawyer of the year for 2007.

The Association of the Bar of the City of New York will grant Mr. Chaudhry an honorary membership in the association on Nov. 17, 2008, recognizing him as a "symbol of the movement for judicial and lawyer independence in Pakistan."

There have been several instances where certain people have marked and/or referred to the current Chief Justice of Pakistan Abdul Hameed Dogar as the Defacto Chief Justice of Pakistan, and referred to Iftikhar Muhammad Chaudhry as the legal and/or current Chief Justice of Pakistan.

Justice Dogar was elevated to the position of Chief Justice of Pakistan on 3 November 2007 and he was offered to take an oath on the Provisional Constitution Order (PCO) which replaced the Constitution like Iftikhar Muhammad Chaudhry who took a similar oath on the PCO in 2000 and was elevated to the Chief Justice position. The oaths taken by Chief Justice Iftikhar however, were accorded constitutional status under the 17th Constitutional Amendment passed by parliament of Pakistan on 29 December 2004. Such ratification is yet to be accorded to oaths taken by Justice Dogar.

As with Iftikhar Muhammad Chaudhry, Justice Dogar later took a fresh oath according to article 178 of the Constitution on 15 November 2007, thus making him the legal and dejure Chief Justice of Pakistan.Under the Constitution of the Islamic Republic of Pakistan a state of emergency can only be declared by the president. Instead of the president the emergency was declared by the army chief, thus there was no emergency declared at all.

  1. ^ "Chaudhry Iftikhar named new CJ" (May 7, 2005).
  2. ^ "Musharraf Suspends Pakistan's Constitution" (November 4, 2007).
  3. ^ "Justice Iftikhar declared proclamation of emegency,suspension of constitution and provisional constitution order illegeal, PCO" (November 4, 2007).
  4. ^ a b c Supreme Court of Pakistan Official Website
  5. ^ "Chaudhry Iftikhar named new CJ" (May 7, 2005).
  6. ^ http://www.dawn.com/2007/06/21/top1.htm
  7. ^ http://www.dawn.com/2007/06/21/top1.htm
  8. ^ Daily Times - Leading News Resource of Pakistan
  9. ^ "Suspended Pak CJ arrives in Karachi amid violence and tight security". Daily India (May 12, 2007).
  10. ^ States cannot survive under dictatorship: CJ, May 7, 2007. DAWN Newspaper. Accessed August 27, 2007.
  11. ^ YouTube - Chief Justic of Pakistan blasts 'dictators'
  12. ^ "Pakistani court reinstates top judge" (July 20, 2007).
  13. ^ a b Syed Shoaib Hasan (August 20, 2007). "Security chief gets jail warning", BBC News. Retrieved on 23 August 2007. 
  14. ^ "Text of Pakistan emergency declaration" (November 3, 2007).
  15. ^ "Section of Constitution on Emergency Provisions".
  16. ^ "Iftikhar Chaudhry vows fresh struggle against Musharraf" (November 5, 2007).
  17. ^ Daily Times - Leading News Resource of Pakistan
  18. ^ Deposed CJ praises PPP chief
  19. ^ http://www.dailymuslims.com/ISSUES/Pakistan/817.html
  20. ^ http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/world/asia/article3613791.ece
  21. ^ http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/south_asia/7323335.stm
  22. ^ http://in.reuters.com/article/southAsiaNews/idINIndia-36062020081020
  23. ^ HLS News: Pakistani chief justice to receive Harvard Law School 'Medal of Honour'
  24. ^ "HLS News: Pakistani chief justice to receive Harvard Law School 'Medal of Honour'" (November 14, 2007).
  25. ^ "Dawn: Harvard to award Medal of Freedom to Justice Iftikhar" (November 15, 2007).
  26. ^ Harvard Law School to honour Iftikhar
  27. ^ Pakistan's Chief Justice receives Medal of Freedom in the Harvard Law Record, 20 November 2008


Preceded by
Nazim Hussain Siddiqui		 Chief Justices of Pakistan Succeeded by
Abdul Hameed Dogar
v • d • e
Chief Justices of Pakistan
Post-independence
Military rule (1956–1971)
Bhutto era (1971–1977)
Zia-ul-Haq era (1977–1988)
Democratic period (1988–1999)
Zullah · Shah · Ali Shah · Mian
Musharraf era (1999–2008)
S. Siddiqui · Khan · Jehangiri · Ahmad · N. Siddiqui · Chaudhry · Iqbal · Bhagwandas · Chaudhry · Dogar
Italics indicate acting officeholders
Retrieved from "http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Iftikhar_Muhammad_Chaudhry"
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