Pakistan court to meet amid looming showdown over judges
ISLAMABAD (AFP) — Pakistan's top court was due to meet Tuesday amid a looming showdown between the country's new parliament and President Pervez Musharraf over judges he deposed last year.
The Musharraf-appointed Chief Justice Abdul Hameed Dogar, who succeeded sacked top judge Iftikhar Muhammad Chaudhry, was to chair a rare full meeting of all 15 judges of the Supreme Court.
No agenda has been announced for the extraordinary meeting, which comes a day after the parliament dominated by Musharraf opponents was formally inducted following last month's general election.
The incoming ruling coalition has pledged to restore about 60 judges including Chaudhry through a parliamentary resolution within the next 30 days.
A court official told AFP there was no fixed agenda for the meeting.
"There is no formal agenda announced for the meeting but usually such meetings are called to take administrative decisions related to the court's work and promotions," the official, who declined to be named, said.
Pakistan Supreme Court Bar Association President Aitzaz Ahsan, who has been spearheading a campaign to reinstate the sacked judges, expressed fears the pro-Musharraf judges could issue an order barring the parliament from issuing the resolution to restore the judges.
But he told a news conference overnight the parliament, being a sovereign body, would not be bound by such an order.
He warned of protests and rallies if Musharraf's hand-picked judges tried to obstruct the reinstatement of the deposed judges.
Key US ally Musharraf, who grabbed power in a military coup in October 1999, sparked a mass protest against his rule when he sacked Chaudhry on March 9 last year on misconduct charges. The Supreme Court reinstated him in July.
Musharraf later carried out a judicial purge on November 3 when he imposed a state of emergency, fearing the Supreme Court could overturn his victory in a presidential election.
Chaudhry and his family have been living under house arrest in a heavily guarded government residential area of Islamabad since November.
