Sacked Pak judge, kin roughed up

New Delhi: Ousted Pakistan Chief Justice Iftikhar Mohammad Chaudhary and his family were roughed up by security men on Tuesday outside his residence ahead of his appearance before a judicial council that will go into charges of misuse of authority against him.

Sacked by Pakistan President Pervez Musharraf last week, Chaudhary declined to take the official car and was preparing to walk to the Supreme Court, where the Supreme Judicial Council was meeting to hear the case against him.

But the security officials would not allow him and a scuffle followed in which Chaudhary, his wife and daughters were manhandled by security personnel, Pakistan television channels reported.

Meanwhile, opposition swelled to the Pakistani government's move to sack the country's top judge.

Lawyers across the country have staged angry protests since the government decided on Friday to suspend Chaudhary.

US-based Human Rights Watch said the move had created a constitutional crisis and undermined the independence of the judiciary.

Chaudhary has been confined at his residence in Islamabad since Friday, although the government denies he is under house arrest.

On Tuesday, he was moved to a government guesthouse before being taken to the Supreme Court in the capital amid tight security.

Musharraf's government has given no details of allegations against Chaudhary but analysts say the action might be related to his efforts to make authorities account for people who disappeared after being taken into custody.

"We are demonstrating because the judiciary has been defamed by this government action," a former law minister, Aitzaz Ahsan, told a crowd of about 200 lawyers and opposition supporters outside the Supreme Court.

Constitutional crisis

The government said on Friday the Supreme Judicial Council would hold an inquiry into "numerous complaints and serious allegations" against Chaudhary, APP news agency reported.

The state-run agency also cited "misconduct and misuse of authority".

Meanwhile, Human Rights Watch said the council's hearing should be open.

"By brazenly and unlawfully dismissing, detaining and humiliating the chief justice of the Supreme Court, President Musharraf has created a constitutional crisis at the judiciary's expense," said Ali Dayan Hasan, a researcher for the group.

The News newspaper said that, by denying Chaudhary his right to move freely and meet whoever he wanted, the government was violating the constitution.

"The government needs to extricate itself from this ugly situation before it spirals out of control. Any delay in repairing the damage can only convince most Pakistanis that they live in a country that has all the makings of a police state," the paper said.

Human Rights Watch said the move to oust Chaudhary pointed to government determination to control the judiciary in the run-up to elections due late this year or early next year.

Though, appointed by Musharraf in 2005, Chaudhary later attempted to assert judicial independence and took up several rights cases including initiating proceedings in cases involving enforced disappearances, Human Rights Watch said.

Human rights groups say at least 400 people have disappeared since Pakistan joined the US-led war on terrorism in 2001.

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