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WEEKLY
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| No restored judge sits on Sharifs’ case panel |
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Saturday, March 28, 2009
By Tariq Butt
ISLAMABAD: Not a single restored judge of the Supreme Court figures on the eagerly-awaited five-member bench that will adjudicate on review petitions against the disqualification of Sharif brothers.
“It is an excellent bench to which no side can raise even a minor objection,” remarked a senior lawyer, who has been a part of the team of attorneys representing Pervez Musharraf in the Supreme Court against Chief Justice Iftikhar Muhammad Chaudhry.
In an exclusive chat with The News on Friday, the lawyer remarked: “In my opinion, Chief Justice Iftikhar Chaudhry has passed the first test. No angle can be imputed to the inclusion of any judge in the bench.”
Only two judges, Justice Musa K Leghari and Justice Sheikh Hakim Ali, who had earlier taken oath under the Provisional Constitution Order (PCO) of Nov 3, 2007 and later got oath under the Constitution, have been included in the bench.
They are on the bench because they were part of the previous three-judge panel, which had originally handed down the ruling, disqualifying Nawaz Sharif and his younger brother Shahbaz Sharif on Feb 25.
Justice Hakim Ali had taken oath as an LHC judge under the PCO but was administered a fresh oath under the Constitution in Feb 2008 when he was elevated to the Supreme Court. Justice Leghari took oath as the apex court judge under the PCO in Nov 2007.
The remaining three judges — Justice Tassaduq Hussain Jilani, Justice Nasirul Mulk and Justice Sabihuddin Ahmed — are non-PCO judges who were shunted out of the superior judiciary as a result of the Nov 3 emergency.
At the time, Justice Sabihuddin was the chief justice of the Sindh High Court (SHC). After remaining out of the judiciary for nearly one year for refusing to take oath under the PCO, he was appointed as a Supreme Court judge in September 2008 and took oath under the Constitution.
Justice Jilani and Justice Nasirul Mulk were among the apex court judges who went home on Nov 3, 2007 because they had refused to take oath under the PCO. They were reappointed judges of the Supreme Court with back-date seniority in September last. They were administered oath under the Constitution.
The lawyer said it appeared Justice Iftikhar Chaudhry did a lot of deliberations before constituting the bench. He was all praise for Justice Jilani, Justice Nasirul Mulk and Justice Sabihuddin for always standing by the Constitution and the law.
Justice Sakhi Hussain Bokhari, the third judge of the original three-judge bench which had disqualified the Sharif brothers, has not been included in the new five-member panel.
Of the five members on the new bench that will take up the politically important review petitions on Monday, two judges are from the Punjab, two from Sindh while one hails from the North West Frontier Province (NWFP).
None of the restored Supreme Court judges, including Chief Justice Iftikhar Chaudhry, Justice Javed Iqbal, Justice Khalilur Rehman Ramday, Justice Raja Fayyaz Ahmed and Justice Ejaz Ahmed will sit on the panel.
The lawyer acknowledged the chief justice had the discretion to refer the review petition to the same bench that had originally decided the pleas or a new panel or a mix of judges of the previous panel and new ones.
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ISSN 1563-9479 
