Former prime minister and Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) leader Nawaz Sharif on Wednesday made another attempt to meet
deposed Chief Justice Iftikhar Muhammad Chaudhry but a large contingent of police prevented him from reaching the residence of the ousted judge.
"Our stand is that Iftikhar Chaudhry is still the chief justice of Pakistan and we will continue our struggle for an independent judiciary," Nawaz Sharif later said while talking informally to newsmen.
This was his second attempt to meet Iftikhar Chaudhry. His first attempt on December 6 had met the same fate.
A large contingent of police had cordoned off the
Judges Colony from all sides when the former prime minister, along with his
party leaders, was stopped at a police barricade near the Balochistan House. The law enforcing personnel had erected barbed wires to prevent Nawaz Sharif from meeting Iftikhar Chaudhry.
The former prime minister was accompanied by senior PML-N leaders Raja Zafar-ul-Haq, Iqbal Zafar Jhagra, Chaudhry Nisar Ali Khan, Syed Zafar Ali Shah, Dr Tariq Fazal Chaudhry, party workers, lawyers and representatives of the civil society.
Nawaz Sharif declared that his party would reinstate all the deposed judges of the Supreme Court and High Courts if voted to power. "We will restore the pre-emergency status of the judiciary and reinstate all the deposed judges if voted to power," he said.
Nawaz Sharif expressed solidarity with the lawyers community and paid tribute to their detained leaders, Aitzaz Ahsan, Ali Ahmed Kurd and Tariq Mehmood.
He said following the announcement of the interior ministry that the deposed judges were free to move anywhere and meet anyone, he had decided to meet the deposed Chief Justice of Pakistan.
Nawaz Sharif also referred to reports that the former chief justice had been asked to vacate his official residence. "The government''s directive given to Justice Iftikhar to vacate his official residence was illegal, unethical and unconstitutional," he said.
He said the rulers who had removed Iftikhar Chaudhry from his post as the chief justice of Pakistan would have to face the consequences.
He also appealed to police personnel deputed around the Judges Colony not to accept any unconstitutional order of the government.
Nawaz Sharif, along with the party leaders and workers, also visited the families of party workers in Pind Malkan who were killed in a firing incident here at Koral Chowk on December 27 when he was to address a gathering in Rawalpindi. He expressed sympathy with the bereaved families.
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