Judge's fate out of my hands, says Musharraf
Source: Reuters
(Updates with comment from U.S. official) By Simon Cameron-Moore ISLAMABAD, March 15 (Reuters) - President Pervez Musharraf, accused by lawyers, journalists and political opponents of acting unconstitutionally in trying to sack the country's top judge, said on Thursday he would not interfere in the case. A hearing against Supreme Court Chief Justice Iftikhar Chaudhary will reconvene on Friday behind closed doors, but there is no indication how long the case might last. "I promise you that judiciary will decide, we don't have to interfere in the matter, even I don't have the right," Musharraf told a rally in the eastern town of Gujranwala. "Whatever decision they take, I will accept it." The Chief Justice was suspended last Friday after a meeting with Musharraf. His subsequent confinement at his Islamabad home has outraged many Pakistanis. "He is like a class-A prisoner," said Syed Iftikhar Gillani, a former law minister in Benazir Bhutto's Pakistan People's Party, who was one of the few people to have gained access to see the suspended chief justice. Allegations against Chaudhary have been vague. The state-run APP news agency cited "misconduct and misuse of authority". Chaudhary has already told the panel of five judges sitting on the Supreme Judicial Council that he does not expect a fair hearing from them. Lawyers are expected to continue their week-long agitation against the government's action. Islamist parties are planning protests after Friday prayers, while the media is smarting over attempts to muzzle its reporting and commenting on the case. The handling of the case has fuelled suspicion that Musharraf feared the independent-minded judge would not accept any move by him to retain his role as army chief, which constitutionally he should give up this year. U.S. WATCHING Musharraf, who came to power in a military coup more than seven years ago, may have picked a bad time for a confrontation with the judge. Elections for national and provincial assemblies are due this year or in early 2008, and while analysts believe he can obtain another 5-year term from either the sitting assemblies or the new ones, the controversy could weaken his position. Musharraf is already under pressure from the United States to act forcibly against the Taliban on Pakistani soil and also to see that the next elections are free and fair. Visiting U.S. Assistant Secretary of State for South and Central Asia Richard Boucher said the United States was watching the affair. "We do think this is a matter that needs to work its way through the Pakistani system," Boucher told a news conference in Islamabad. "We understand the sensitivity of accusations involving judicial figures, it's a sensitive matter ... I've asked a lot of questions. We'll watch closely as it works its way through." The political opposition has made a cause celebre out of Chaudhary, whose refusal to go quietly represents a rare challenge to Musharraf from within the establishment. "The matter is being politicised and efforts are being made to gain political mileage out of it," said Musharraf. A lawyer for Chaudhary said the Supreme Judicial Council did not have the authority to suspend him on March 9. "It has no authority to remove him because it can only recommend. It is an advisory body. It cannot make him dysfunctional," lawyer Aitzaz Ahsan told Reuters. (Additional reporting by Augustine Anthony, Kamran Haider and Robert Birsel)
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