Faisalabad, Pakistan: March 17, 2009. (Samina reports for PCP) Human Rights Focus Pakistan(HRFP) welcomed the reinstatement of deposed Chief Justice Iftikhar Muhammad Chaudhry and other judges and wrote a letter appealing him to take a sue motu notice on discriminatory laws and their misuse. He requested to CJ for his special attention on Blasphemy Laws in Pakistan refer to mainly the following sections of the Pakistan Penal Code 295B & 295C. These sections made defiling the Holy Quran punishable with life imprisonment (295-B), of the name of the Holy Prophet with the death sentence (295-C), and of any other personage referred in Islam with three years’ imprisonment (298-A). Naveed Walter sent a letter to Chief Justice after his reinstatement’s notification signed by the President Asif Ali Zardari on March17,2009 and said ,"In the past the militants has been pressurizing the Judges for the decisions according to their expectations and we hope the record of Pakistan for protecting its minorities against social injustice will be changed. When the judiciary of Pakistan will be free the print and electronic media will also freely work and it will reveal the minorities in Pakistan are deprived of basic civil liberties and equal opportunities in jobs, education and political representation. Otherwise the minorities are easy target of harassment, violence and even murder by mobs blinded with religious frenzy. Ironically, the State, instead of safeguarding the rights of minorities, has enacted laws which are patently discriminatory", he added In the letter he appreciated the address of Prime Minister Yousaf Raza Gillani on early morning of Monday 16, 2009 in which he announced the reinstatement of the deposed Chief Justice Iftikhar Muhammad Chaudhry and other Judges. Naveed Walter, congratulated the all human rights activists, civil society, lawyers, minorities and political parties and to all Pakistanis for their long untiring struggle over the reinstatement of all deposed Judges. It makes a big hope for the people of Pakistan for positive change and the sacrifices of the people have borne the fruits, as the judiciary’s sun has dawned, for which, especially the entire lawyers community across the country deserves compliments. Naveed hoped that CJ will be a great supporter of civil liberty, citizen rights, minorities matters and the welfare of all people in Pakistan and a separate human rights cell will also be setup again at Supreme Court as in his previous service, he added in a letter. Background of the lawyers’ movement: On March 09, 2007 , Iftikhar Muhammad Chaudhry (Chief Justice of Pakistan) was suspended by Pakistani President Pervez Musharraf. also filed a "reference" (i.e., legal case) against him for alleged misconduct, such as an allegation that he demanded an ostentatious Mercedes-Benz for his official car. The suspension of Chief Justice was the first time in the 60-year history of the Pakistani Supreme Court that a Chief Justice was suspended. The court under Chief Justice had made rulings against governmental corruption, including the Pakistan Steel Mills case. In 2007, the Supreme Court ruled against the government, saying that the selling of Pakistan Steel Mills to a group including Arif Habib, former client and friend of PM Shaukat Aziz, was done in "indecent haste". To put it simple, Justice Chaudhry’s suspension was done in ‘indecent haste’ too, and with intentions that were not very pure. A critical view of the possible reasons is as follows: • He worked hard while pursuing his efforts to clear the backlog of cases and burnt the midnight oil in literal sense while taking up the additional responsibility of the human rights cases under his suo moto jurisdiction. A separate human rights cell was set up at the Supreme Court that received thousands of complaints from poor victims across the country. • Lawyers had a grudge that Mr Chaudhry was wasting his precious time while hearing cases which actually came under the jurisdiction of civil courts. • The entire police hierarchy, bureaucracy, politicians from the ruling as well as opposition parties, feudal lords and several incumbent rulers directly or indirectly came in the line of fire when Mr Chaudhry either gave decisions against them or passed stern directions for them to comply with. • He admonished the former inspector general of Punjab police, Maj (r) Ziaul Hasan, when the Punjab police was accused of not implementing 90 percent of the SC directives. Hasan might have felt that he was humiliated in an open court so he retaliated and broke the court decorum by exchanging words with the judge. At the time, the judge told journalists not to report that part of the proceedings. • In the Pakistan Steel Mills (PSM) case, Mr Chaudhry headed a larger bench and ruled that the Cabinet Committee on Privatization (CCOP) grossly violated the law in the PSM sell-off. Certainly, the government would not have liked this judgment because none other than the prime minister was heading the CCOP. • While pursuing the case of missing citizens, who were allegedly picked up by the intelligence agencies, the judge fixed responsibility on the government and observed that it was the duty of the state to protect people’s lives and ensure their safety. This case might have annoyed the government. • In the public interest cases, he also went off the government line and issued directions for the authorities to benefit the common man. After the event, there was unrest in the country with regard to the validity of the allegations against Chaudhry, as well as doubt as to whether Musharraf actually had the power to suspend the Chief Justice under the circumstances. After his suspension, the lawyers, civil society, NGOs and other Organizations started demonstration, rallies, press conferences, long march and other means for the protest against the Government for the restoration of the Chief Justice and super messy of law in the Country. Participation of HRFP: HRFP’s activists participated in the lawyers movement and long march which was held at Lahore on March 15, 2009 to protest strongly against the Government for the restoration of the Chief Justice, rule of law and real democracy and justice for the poor and marginalized people in the Country.