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Cheers, rose petals as Pakistan's top judge returns
Tue Mar 24, 2009 3:25am EDT
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By Zeeshan Haider
ISLAMABAD (Reuters) - Black-suited Pakistani lawyers cheered and threw rose petals as Supreme Court Chief Justice Iftikhar Chaudhry returned to work on Tuesday more than a year after he was sacked by military ruler.
The government decided to reinstate Chaudhry as Supreme Court chief on March 16 defusing a political crisis that had threatened to bring violent confrontation to the streets of the capital.
"Welcome, welcome!" scores of lawyers chanted as Chaudhry arrived at the Supreme Court in the heart of Islamabad.
Chaudhry's reinstatement ended a campaign by anti-government lawyers and opposition parties.
Tension has lingered between the country's two biggest parties: the Pakistan People's Party (PPP) of President Asif Ali Zardari and its main rival, the party of former prime minister and opposition leader Nawaz Sharif.
However, all sides have spoken of reconciliation, raising hope for political stability in a country grappling with Islamist militant violence and a flagging economy.
The United States and its Western allies see Pakistani action to root out al Qaeda and Taliban enclaves on its northwestern border as essential in bringing stability to neighboring Afghanistan.
Chaudhry did not speak to reporters as he arrived back at work at the white marble Supreme Court.
Then president and army chief General Pervez Musharraf dismissed Chaudhry in November 2007 out of fear that the maverick judge would block his re-election as president while still army chief.
OUTRAGE
The outrage many Pakistanis felt over Musharraf's treatment of the judge led to the heavy defeat of the main pro-Musharraf party in a general election in February last year.
Despite promises to reinstate Chaudhry and other judges Musharraf dismissed, Zardari, who replaced Musharraf after he was forced to step down last August, dragged his feet.
Analysts say Zardari, widower of assassinated former prime minister Benazir Bhutto, feared a reinstated Chaudhry could nullify an amnesty that Musharraf granted Bhutto and Zardari to enable them to return to Pakistan without fear of prosecution for old charges of corruption.
But finally, Zardari relented and agreed to reinstate the judge in the face of the unrelenting protests and looming turmoil. The United States and army chief General Ashfaq Kayani were involved in negotiations to defuse the crisis.
Potentially divisive issues remain between the two big parties including the question of Sharif's eligibility for elected office and who controls Punjab, Pakistan's most populous, prosperous and politically influential province. Continued...
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