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| Benazir’s promise remains unfulfilled |
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Wednesday, September 10, 2008
By Rauf Klasra
ISLAMABAD: The public commitment made by Shaheed Benazir Bhutto was not honoured on Tuesday when Asif Ali Zardari took oath of his office from Justice Abdul Hameed Dogar, instead of Justice Iftikhar Mohammad Chaudhry whom the martyred PPP leader had termed the "real chief justice of Pakistan".
After the imposition of emergency on November 3 by Pervez Musharraf, Benazir Bhutto had categorically rejected the elevation of Justice Dogar to the post of chief justice. She had declared in front of the official residence of Iftikar Chaudhry that he was the real CJ and if she returned to power she would hoist the national flag at his residence.
For many who saw a smiling Zardari taking oath from CJ Hameed Dogar, this was a breach of public promise made by Shaheed Benazir Bhutto.There were unconfirmed reports that prior to swearing-in ceremony Zardari might ask the prime minister to restore the deposed chief justice.
The message given by Asif Zardari was quite clear - that the people and the media should now forget the defiant chief justice who had actually triggered the movement against Musharraf which enabled the exiled leaders like Nawaz Sharif, Benazir Bhutto, Shahbaz Sharif and even Asif Zardari to come back to Pakistan.
In exile, Benazir Bhutto was opposed to the judicial activism as she thought it might impede her return to Pakistan through NRO, particularly when Iftikhar Chaudhry had objected to such a law. That was why Benazir Bhutto had criticised Iftikar Chaudhry in her press conference, which she addressed a day before she landed in Pakistan on October 18 last year.
But once she returned to Pakistan she swiftly changed her position as she came to know the ground realities. The same Benazir Bhutto who had blasted Iftikar Chaudhry in her press conference in Dubai was seen leading a big political rally of her supporters to the house of the deposed chief justice. In her defiant and emotional speech, Ms Bhutto had told her workers that Iftikar Chaudhry was the real chief justice and that one day she would hoist the national flag on his residence. It is hoped that those who claim her legacy would fulfill her promise.
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ISSN 1563-9479 
