Three ‘Deposed’ Judges Of The SC,Mian Shakirullah Jan,Tassaduq Hussain Jillani And Syed Jamshed Ali

ISLAMABAD:Three ‘deposed’ judges of the Supreme Court, Justice Mian Shakirullah Jan, Justice Tassaduq Hussain Jillani and Justice Syed Jamshed Ali, took a fresh oath of their offices here on Friday. Chief Justice Abdul Hameed Dogar administered the oath to them. The ceremony was held in the Ceremonial Hall of the Supreme Court of Pakistan.

It was announced that these judges would return to their offices with immediate effect and their seniority was ensured from the date of November 2, 2007. In addition, they would also get all pensionary benefits as judges of the Apex Court.

Federal Law Minister Farooq H. Naek said that these judges had taken a fresh oath, as an order had been issued to retire all those judges who had refused to take oath under the PCO promulgated by President Pervez Musharraf last year.

Regarding reinstatement of Justice Iftikhar Muhammad Chaudhry, he said that he should first take a fresh oath then would come the question of ‘Chief Justice’. Justice Abdul Hameed Dogar is the Chief Justice of Pakistan as he has taken the oath of the office.

If Iftikhar Chaudhry took oath under the constitution as CJ, a constitutional impasse would emerge, he added. Naek said: “We have offered the legal community to enter dialogue to address this issue, as this intricate matter can not be resolved through the use of force and staging protest demonstrations.”

He said: “We are not discriminating in reappointing the deposed judges as it is being perceived,” and added that “any judge who wants to take oath should contact us”. “Our party is committed to reinstate all deposed judges to end the judicial crisis in the country.” To substantiate his argument, he said that after the resignation of President Pervez Musharraf, “we have started the process to reinstate the deposed judges”.

The Law Ministry on Friday also issued a warning to the deposed judges to take fresh oath, otherwise they would stand retired. This showed that the government was not going to reinstate deposed judges through an executive order. Attorney General Latif Khosa said the government had at least started reinstating the deposed judges in accordance with the promises it made with the nation.

Commenting on reappointment of three judges of the Supreme Court, former Justice Tariq Mehmood lamented over the oath taking of the deposed judges, saying these judges faced a dictator but failed to resist against the democratic government. He said that establishment of democratic government in the country was result of lawyers’ movement. It was March 9, 2007 when Justice Iftikhar Muhammad Chaudhry said ‘no’ to a ‘dictator’ which changed the political scenario in the country.

Advocate Athar Minallah, spokesperson for deposed CJ Chaudhry expressed grief for oath taking of the deposed judges, saying that these judges had travelled a long distance with the legal community for the establishment of rule of law in the county but by taking oath they had accepted their removal.

The oath ceremony was attended by Judges of the Supreme Court, Chief Justice of Islamabad High Court Sardar Mohammad Aslam, other judges of IHC, Minister for Law Farooq Naik, Attorney General Latif Khosa, officials of Ministry of Law and Justice, law officers, advocates and advocates on records besides officials of the Supreme Court.