The eight deposed judges of Sindh High Court (SHC) who refused to take oath under Provisional Constitutional Order (PCO) after Pakistan’s ex-president and Chief of Army Staff, Pervez Musharraf, put Pakistan under a state of emergency and asked the judges of higher courts to take fresh oaths under PCO November last year, have taken fresh oaths today in Karachi to be re-appointed as the Judges of Sindh High Court . Earlier, more than 60 judges, out of a total of 97 judges in the Supreme Court of Pakistan and High Courts, had refused to take oath under the PCO issued by Musharraf in November, 2007. It has been learned that Justice Anwer Zaheer Jamali, who has taken a fresh oath has been appointed as as SHC chief justice. The Governor of Sindh, Dr. Ishartul Ibad, has administered his oath.
Seven other judges who were sworn-in today were Justice Khilji Arif Hussain, Justice Ameer Hani Muslim, Justice Zafar Ahmad Khan Sherwani, Justice Sajjad Ali Shah, Justice Salman Ansari, Justice Faisal Arab and Justice Abdul Rashid Kolhoro. New Chief Justice Anwer Zaheer Jamali has administered their oath.
Earlier, the Federal Law Ministry of Pakistan had issued a notification to raise the number of judges of SHC from 28 to 40 and to restore eight deposed judges. It has been learned that the government is planning to follow the same formula to restore the majority of deposed judges of high courts and Supreme Court of Pakistan.
The leadership of lawyers’ movement, which has already announced to launch fresh protests in Pakistan from August 28 to pressure the government on the restoration of pre-November 3, 2007 judiciary, is not happy with the decision of these judges. President Rasheed A. Rizvi of Sindh High Court Bar Association justice (retired), while talking to GroundReport, has said that such decisions are set-backs for lawyers’ movement but they will stick to their agenda of reinstatement of judges on pre-emergency position.