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March 16, 2009

Pakistan Reinstates Sacked Chief Justice
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In an attempt to defuse a growing political crisis, the Pakistani
government has announced the reinstatement of Iftikhar Chaudhry, the
deposed chief justice. The move comes as Pakistan was facing mass
streets protests against the rule of President Asif Ali Zardari, the
widower of Benazir Bhutto. On Friday, Zardari ordered Pakistan’s main
opposition leader, former Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif, to be placed
under house arrest. Sharif defied the order and held a large protest in
Lahore on Sunday. Sharif was threatening to march to Islamabad, but the
protest was called off after the government announced the reinstatement
of Chaudhry. Chaudhry and sixty other judges were dismissed in 2007 by
former president General Pervez Musharraf.



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