75 Pakistani judges refuse allegiance to Musharraf

Islamabad, Nov 4 - Fifteen judges of the Supreme Court and more than 60 of the four high courts refused allegiance to Pakistan President Pervez Musharraf and did not take the new oath as required under the Provisional Constitutional Order (PCO).

According to the state-run Pakistan Television, six judges of the Supreme Court were administered oath Saturday night including the new Chief Justice Abdul Hameed Dogar who is from Sindh. He was appointed a high court judge by Benazir Bhutto, when she was prime minister of the country.

The judges who opted not to take the oath under the PCO included Justice Iftikhar Muhammad Chaudhry who was restored in August four months after Musharraf suspended him. Justice Rana Bhagwandas, the only Hindu judge to reach the second highest position in judiciary, also did not take the oath.

Bhagwandas headed the Supreme Court when Justice Chaudhry was suspended. Unconfirmed reports said that he was offered the position of chief justice under the PCO but refused and preferred to quit the judiciary.

The governors of Pakistan's four provinces administered oath to the high court judges Saturday. In Punjab the total number of high court judges was 31 but only 12 took the oath. Likewise, in Sindh only four judges out of 27 were administered oath.

In the North-West Frontier Province (NWFP), seven out of 15 judges took the oath while in Balochistan six out of 11 judges refused.

When contacted an official of the law ministry said that only those judges were sworn in who accepted the PCO.

However, he said that some of the judges asked for time before taking the final decision while some of them were not available.

The official said the situation about the judiciary would become clearer Monday.

(c) Indo-Asian News Service

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