Put on the backfoot by the outrage over his action in suspending Chief Justice of Pakistan Iftikhar Muhammad Chaudhry, President Pervez Musharraf Thursday attempted damage control by saying he would "bow" his head and accept the verdict of the Supreme Judicial Council in the matter.
Promising not to interfere with the verdict of the five-member council which is hearing charges against Chaudhry, Musharraf said, "I promise you all that the court will decide on it and there is no need to interfere. Even I do not have the right to interfere.
"Let the court decide on it. Whatever is deemed fit, I will bow my head and accept," he said.
Breaking his silence, he told a gathering in Gujaranwala that the removal of Justice Chaudhry is a legal issue and would be decided according to the Constitution by the Supreme Court.
Musharraf had suspended Justice Chaudhry on March 9 accusing him of misconduct and misuse of authority and forwarded the charges to the Council.
As a civil judge resigned in protest against the action against Chaudhry and lawyers' protests intensified throughout the country, Musharraf accused the opposition parties of giving a political colour to it.
Without directly naming the opposition parties, he said a "political colour" was being given to the controversy in order to further their interests.
He also said deliberate attempts were being made to bring lawyers onto the streets.
Judge Saeed Khurshid, who was posted in Bahawalpur in Punjab resigned Wednesday saying that he chose to do so as more senior members of the judiciary remained silent on the humiliation heaped on the Chief Justice.
He said though he was too junior, he could not do more than that to vent his grievances against the present state of affairs.
The Lahore High Court (Bahawalpur Bench) bar termed the civil judge's decision as "extremely courageous." Saeed Ejaz, the president of the LHC bar of Bahawalpur Bench and Naveed Khalil Chaudhry, former secretary-general of the bar, said they hoped that the higher judiciary would follow the precedent set by him.
Meanwhile, the Acting Chief Justice Javed Iqbal's decision to order an inquiry against those who manhandled Chaudhry led to police officials pressing panic buttons.
Islamabad DSP Jamil Hashmi quickly denied any involvement in the manhandling of Chaudhry and his family outside his residence before he was preparing to walk to the SJC hearing.
Hashmi told the media that he never came face-to-face with Justice Chaudhry during the episode. He said he was deployed to look after all pickets.
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