Deposed Chief Justice says Musharraf's actions ill

Pakistan's sacked Chief Justice Iftikhar M Chaudhry has described President Pervez Musharraf's post-emergency set-up as "illegal and unconstitutional" in his first comments after being deposed by the general.

"Everything that is happening today is illegal, unconstitutional and against the orders of the Supreme Court," Chaudhury, who was put under house arrest after he refused to take oath under Musharraf's Provisional Constitutional Order, told The News on telephone Sunday night.

Chaudhry, 59, said the seven-member bench of the apex court headed by him, which had stayed the PCO, and had also restrained the judges of the superior courts from taking oath under the PCO, had left the present set-up completely illegal.

Musharraf, who took power in a 1999 bloodless coup, suspended Chaudhry on March 9 following allegations that the judge abused his position. Chaudhry, whose suspension sparked off massive protests in the country, was reinstated on July 20 when a 13-judge bench declared Musharraf's action as illegal.

Stressing that he was determined to launch yet another phase of his struggle for an independent judiciary, rule of law and to uphold the Constitution, Chaudhry said that he had neither done anything wrong previously when he was suspended nor had he done any such thing now, the daily said.

"God has blessed me with success last time and I am sure that He would again bless me and other respected judges, who had refused to take fresh oath under the PCO, in a similar manner this time too," Chaudhury said.

Without referring to General Musharraf's speech that accused judiciary of going soft on terrorists, Chaudhury said that it was wrong to conclude that the judiciary had been lenient towards terrorists.