By Sayed Abid Hussain Shah in The News, April 7
MIRPUR: The judicial crisis in Azad Kashmir aggravated when the presidential order to restore Justice Riaz Akhter as the chief justice was struck down by the Supreme Judicial Council led by ‘acting’ Chief Justice Syed Manzoor Hussain Gillani on Monday.
‘Reinstated’ Chief Justice Riaz Akhter Chaudhry on Tuesday performed official duties in his chambers in the AJK Supreme Court Mirpur Circuit building on Tuesday for the second consecutive day along with the Justice Muhammad Azam Khan, who was also reinstated through the orders passed by AJK President Raja Zulqarnain Khan.
Similarly, ‘acting’ AJK Chief Justice Syed Manzoor Hussain Gillani also performed his official duties at his office in the AJK Supreme Court building in Muzaffarabad. It is perhaps for the first time in the AJK’s judicial history when two chief justices of the apex court performed their duties simultaneously in their chambers in Muzaffarabad and Mirpur Circuit buildings.
A large contingent of the police, led by DSP Irfan Salim, was deployed in front of the AJK Supreme Court Mirpur Circuit building hours before the arrival of the ‘reinstated’ AJK chief justice.
Acting AJK President Shah Ghulam Qadir at the advice of AJK Prime Minister Raja Farooq Haider had made AJK Chief Justice Riaz dysfunctional on Saturday through two separate notifications after filing a reference against him in the Supreme Judicial Council. The order was reversed by Raja Zulqarnain Khan on Sunday after curtailing his visit to the United Kingdom.
Justice Riaz Akhter on Tuesday came to his office in the Mirpur Circuit building of the AJK Supreme Court in his official black Land Cruiser carrying the flag of the AJK chief justice. However, only lawyers and senior journalists covering the event were allowed to enter the Supreme Court building. http://www.thenews.com.pk/top_story_detail.asp?Id=28210
AJK PM calls on Attique: Daily Times, April 7
LAHORE: Azad Jammu and Kashmir (AJK) Prime Minister Raja Farooq Haider called on former AJK PM Sardar Attique Ahmed, who is also the president of the ruling Muslim Conference, and discussed with him the prevailing judicial and constitutional crisis in the region, a private TV channel reported on Tuesday.
Both the leaders discussed in detail the current judicial crisis and the balance of power between the president and the prime minister of AJK. Devising a strategy to tackle the judicial crisis, an emergency meeting of the parliamentary party of the Muslim Conference would be held today (Wednesday). According to another TV channel, the Federal Kashmir Affairs Ministry is trying to establish two parallel Supreme Judicial Councils (SJC) in wake of the prevailing judicial crisis in AJK. Separately, in Mirpur, deposed AJK Chief Justice (CJ) Riaz Akhtar Chaudhry insisted that he is still the AJK Supreme Court chief justice. CJ Riaz said according to the 1974 Constitution, he had the legal authority to hear cases. In Muzaffarabad and Mirpur, lawyers and civil society members staged protests against the deposing of CJ Riaz and condemned the AJK government for removing the CJ in an unconstitutional way.
Acting AJK CJ Manzoor-ul-Hassan Gilani has summoned a meeting of the SJC today (Wednesday) and ordered that the record of the monitoring cell be presented to him.
Under the 1974 Constitution, the AJK president could proceed against the CJ but AJK President Raja Zulqarnain Khan insisted he had no intentions to depose CJ Riaz.http://www.dailytimes.com.pk/default.asp?page=2010\04\07\story_7-4-2010_pg7_15
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