Pakistanis celebrate justice’s reinstatement

Pakistanis celebrate justice’s reinstatement

McClatchy Newspapers

ISLAMABAD, Pakistan — Celebrations broke out throughout Pakistan on Monday after the government relented and announced the reinstatement of the fired chief justice, as a pro-judiciary opposition movement had sought.

Under intense domestic and international pressure, President Asif Ali Zardari headed off a major clash with protesters moving toward the capital by declaring that he would reappoint Iftikhar Mohammed Chaudhry as the chief justice. The climb-down had Zardari and his government bowing to the demands of opposition leader Nawaz Sharif, who’d championed Chaudhry and had thrown his party behind the protests by the nation’s legal profession.

Chaudhry emerged from his home in Islamabad on Monday morning, waving to a jubilant crowd that had gathered around 1 a.m. local time, when news of the government concession started to emerge. It wasn’t until about 6 a.m. that a bleary-eyed nation heard Prime Minister Yousaf Raza Gilani announce in a televised address that he would “fulfill a promise” to reinstate the chief justice as of next Sunday.

Hundreds of lawyers, human rights activists and supporters of opposition parties gathered at Chaudhry’s home as the news spread. There was dancing, chanting and clapping among the throng, most of whom could barely believe that their two-year protest had succeeded. There were scenes of celebrating lawyers in cities across the country. Even the stock market rallied.

“No country can progress without an independent judiciary, and the government — by restoring the chief justice and other judges — has also realized it, and we think it is a big success,” said Ali Ahmad Kurd, a leader of the lawyers.

Monday would have been the climax of a “long march” by opposition parties and pro-judiciary campaigners from all corners of Pakistan, who intended to stage a massive rally in Islamabad. The government banned the march, and the rally had threatened to turn into a violent confrontation. With their goal suddenly achieved, activists thronged Islamabad in a spirit of revelry instead.