Mail Call: Pakistan's Elections.(Letters)(Letter to the editor)

Readers of our Feb. 11 issue reacted to Pakistan's elections. One wrote, "Aitzaz Ahsan was selective in narrating what led to the chief justice's removal." Another agreed with Imran Khan: "Armed action against the Pashtuns won't succeed." A third said, "Parliament will annul 'president' Musharraf's actions."

Pakistan's Post-Election Issues

It saddened me to note that a man of Aitzaz Ahsan's stature was selective in narrating the events that led to the removal of Chief Justice Iftikhar Muhammad Chaudhry from office ("Pakistan's Forgotten Man," Feb. 11). He omitted mentioning that Chaudhry was first asked to resign in March 2007 to save him the embarrassment of facing charges on a host of shoddy acts, ranging from judicial impropriety to nepotism and misuse of office. Backed by an array of anti-Pervez Musharraf forces, Chaudhry refused to resign. Consequently, Pakistan's Supreme Judicial Council (SJC), comprising senior judges of the Supreme Court and chief justices of the four provincial high courts, started regular hearings on the matter. Ahsan, an astute politician and senior member of the opposition Pakistan Peoples Party, promptly started a protest campaign. Personally chauffeuring Chaudhry across the country, and in the process getting wide personal coverage on Pakistan's thriving private TV networks, Ahsan led many of the country's lawyers in projecting Chaudhry as a David, defiantly standing up to a powerful Goliath. The ensuing furor forced the SJC to suspend hearings and refer the case to a larger bench of the Supreme Court. In the end, instead of investigating the veracity of the charges, the Supreme Court upheld Ahsan's petition on behalf of Chaudhry that the SJC was not competent to try the chief justice. In a country that desperately needs a transparent system of accountability, the nation's top lawyer successfully argued that under Article 209 of the country's Constitution, no charges could be filed against the chief justice and that the SJC could not inquire into Chaudhry's conduct. Ahsan won the day and the case was thrown out on a technicality. As a result, the Pakistani nation may never find out if there was any truth in the charges brought against Chief Justice Chaudhry.

Hasan Pervez

Karachi, Pakistan

Aitzaz Ahsan is right in claiming that he alone is keeping the issue of judges alive in Pakistan today. But for him to claim that Chaudhry, "Pakistan's forgotten man," is the most popular person in the country is not really true. Chaudhry is popular today only because Pervez Musharraf is unpopular. He had the good timing to fall afoul of Musharraf just when everyone started detesting the president. Even those "enlightened moderates" who supported Musharraf in his first few years now wish him out at the earliest. But Chaudhry is no saint. He's a rallying point only as long as Musharraf hangs around. As soon as Musharraf goes, Chaudhry will fade away. Ahsan would be well advised not to keep all his eggs in one basket. His ties to Benazir Bhutto's PPP offer a better option for his political survival--so necessary because Pakistan needs people like him at the top.

Jan Muhammad