<http://www.nytimes.com/2007/05/07/world/asia/07pakistan.html> May 7, 2007 Throngs Attend Speech by Pakistan's Suspended Justice By SALMAN MASOOD
LAHORE, Pakistan, May 6 — The chief justice of Pakistan's supreme court, suspended by the government after he investigated some of its practices, received an emotional welcome here on Sunday from thousands of supporters.
Speaking to the crowd, including many lawyers, the suspended chief justice, Iftikhar Mohammad Chaudhry, said, "The concept of an autocratic system of government is over." He added, "Rule of law, supremacy of the Constitution, basic human rights and individual freedom granted by the Constitution are essential for the formation of a civilized society.
"Those countries and nations who don't learn from the past and repeat those mistakes get destroyed," he said.
He said the government had no right to impose laws that violated basic human rights.
Mr. Chaudhry spoke at the compound of the Lahore High Court, under the scorching Lahore sun. Seventeen judges from the Lahore High court also attended. Many of the supporters covered their heads with newspapers to escape the heat. Banners urging the independence of the judiciary and denouncing the president of Pakistan, Gen. Pervez Musharraf, hung on boundary walls surrounding the compound. Political workers, who were not allowed inside, listened to the speech outside the boundary wall.
It had taken the chief justice 25 hours rather than the usual 4 to reach Lahore, which is considered Pakistan's cultural capital and an important political center.
He left Islamabad, the capital, at 7:30 a.m. on Saturday. But his caravan moved at a snail's pace. Hundreds of vehicles followed Mr. Chaudhry as he traveled through various cities of Punjab, the most populous province. Thousands of people stood by the road as the caravan passed by, making victory signs and shouting that General Musharraf should leave office.
Mr. Chaudhry's vehicle was showered with rose petals at every stop, and people pushed close to get a glimpse of him. The authorities made no effort to stop the caravan, though opposition parties said political workers had been arrested.
The chief justice was suspended by General Musharraf on March 9 on charges of abuse of power and nepotism. Street protests, led by lawyers, began almost immediately. His supporters contend that he was suspended because he had challenged the government on a number of issues.
Among them, he had taken up cases of "forced disappearances" — people believed to have been picked up by Pakistan's powerful intelligence agencies without due process. Human rights groups say that at least 400 people are suspected to have been detained secretly by these agencies since 2001.
Lawyers and rights advocates have called the action against the chief justice an assault on the judiciary. Political parties have jumped into the fray. Political analysts have described the protests as the most serious crisis faced by General Musharraf since he took power in 1999.
Pakistani officials have accused Mr. Chaudhry of trying to get political mileage out of what they say is a legal matter.
His address on Sunday was in response to an invitation from the Lahore High Court Bar Association. He received an emotionally charged welcome that had all the contours of a political protest though he has been careful not to deliver any political speeches or comment on the charges against him. His speech contained some oblique references to the president, but no direct challenges.
Throughout the night, thousands of lawyers waited patiently in the court compound for Mr. Chaudhry to arrive. The organizers played music and recitations to stir the crowd.
A poem by one of Pakistan's most famous poets, Faiz Ahmed Faiz, was cheered feverishly and greeted with clapping and dancing every time it was played.
The poem, written in Urdu, reads, in part:
When the mountains of cruelty and torture
Will fly like pieces of cotton
Under the feet of the governed
This earth will quake
And over the head of the ruler
When lightning will thunder
We shall see.
Lawyers and political workers here said the words echoed the frustration of many Pakistanis with General Musharraf's rule.
Khurram Latif Khosa, a lawyer in the crowd, said of the chief justice, "Here we have a man who had the courage to go eye to eye with the military."
Zafar Iqbal Jhagra, a politician belonging to Pakistan Muslim League of former Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif, said: "One thing is very certain. Right from Islamabad up to Lahore, the entire Punjab has come out to greet the chief justice and to show unity and solidarity with him."
Hamid Gul, a retired general who traveled ahead of the chief justice on the way to Lahore, said independence of the judiciary was "a very burning issue, touching the heart of every Pakistani." He added, "America is oblivious to the realities that are prevailing here."
He described the reaction of the people in Punjab as spontaneous. "It is the desire and the lust for justice that was making people come out," he said.
-- Yoshie