Pakistan judge case should be heard in public-jurist

PAKISTAN: The hearing of a case against Pakistan’s suspended top judge should be held in public in line with U.N. principles of justice, a leading international jurist said.

President Pervez Musharraf plunged the country into a judicial crisis on March 9 by suspending Chief Justice Iftikhar Chaudhry and ordering a panel of judges to hold an inquiry into misconduct charges against him.

Chaudhry has challenged the competence of the panel, Supreme Judicial Council, and demanded an open hearing into the case against him.

“I have never seen anything so bizarre as what happened here,” Dato Param Cumaraswamy, former vice president of the International Commission of Justice (ICJ), told a news conference.

He said while hearing of such cases normally was held behind closed doors but the 1985 U.N. Basic Principles on Independence of Judiciary provided for an open hearing if defence demanded so.

“In a situation prevailing here, it should be in camera but if the judge concerned seeks a public inquiry that should be granted.”

The Malaysian-born Cumaraswamy is leading an ICJ mission to Pakistan to examine events taking place in the wake of suspension of Chaudhry.

Cumaraswamy warned that the judicial crisis in Pakistan would deteriorate and could cause “irreversible damage” to constitutional order in the country if it was not resolved immediately.

Musharraf’s move enraged legal community and his political opponents, who saw it as an attack on the independence of the judiciary, sparking protests throughout the country.

The government has not disclosed the accusations against Chaudhry, but newspapers have reported the main one appeared to be that he used his influence to help his son get a government job.

Analysts speculated that the move might have been motivated by fears that the independent-minded Chaudhry would block Musharraf if he tried to duck a commitment to quit as army chief this year.

Islamabad, Friday, Reuters