Pakistan’s chief justice returned to his post yesterday after two years of protests over his ouster that aided the downfall of one government and pressured the current administration to yield to the opposition.
Meanwhile, the Pakistani prime minister paid a visit to the home of the opposition chief with what he called a “goodwill message,” hoping to further calm political tensions that have distracted a nation beleaguered by rising al-Qaeda and Taliban violence.
Hundreds of lawyers and activists who have agitated for Iftikhar Mohammed Chaudhry’s return gathered outside the judge’s home for a ceremonial flag-raising. They carried balloons and threw rose petals, calling the judge’s reinstatement a milestone for democracy.
“It is a day of victory for the people of Pakistan,” lawyer Aitzaz Ahsan said.
The top judge tackled routine duties yesterday, such as approving panels of jurists, a court statement said. He was formally back in office after midnight following Saturday’s retirement of the chief justice who had replaced him.
Former Pakistani president Pervez Musharraf deposed Chaudhry in 2007 after the independent-minded judge began examining cases that could have embarrassed the military ruler and threatened his claim to office.
The justice’s firing sparked a wave of lawyer-led protests that helped force Musharraf to allow elections that brought his foes to power in early 2007. Musharraf resigned last summer.
His successor, Asif Ali Zardari, promised to restore the chief justice, but kept stalling, apparently over fears that Chaudhry would examine a deal that granted him immunity from prosecution over corruption claims.
Former prime minister Nawaz Sharif, head of the second-biggest party, joined the opposition because of Zardari’s failure to return Chaudhry to his post.
Sharif was further angered after a court ruling last month barred him and his brother Shahbaz from holding elected office. Zardari then dismissed the Punjab provincial government headed by Shahbaz Sharif.
Zardari gave in last week and reinstated the chief justice after activist lawyers and opposition supporters began a march toward the capital, where they planned to stage a sit-in at parliament.
A Chinese freighter that allegedly snapped an undersea cable linking Taiwan proper to Penghu County is suspected of being owned by a Chinese state-run company and had docked at the ports of Kaohsiung and Keelung for three months using different names. On Tuesday last week, the Togo-flagged freighter Hong Tai 58 (宏泰58號) and its Chinese crew were detained after the Taipei-Penghu No. 3 submarine cable was severed. When the Coast Guard Administration (CGA) first attempted to detain the ship on grounds of possible sabotage, its crew said the ship’s name was Hong Tai 168, although the Automatic Identification System (AIS)
An Akizuki-class destroyer last month made the first-ever solo transit of a Japan Maritime Self-Defense Force ship through the Taiwan Strait, Japanese government officials with knowledge of the matter said yesterday. The JS Akizuki carried out a north-to-south transit through the Taiwan Strait on Feb. 5 as it sailed to the South China Sea to participate in a joint exercise with US, Australian and Philippine forces that day. The Japanese destroyer JS Sazanami in September last year made the Japan Maritime Self-Defense Force’s first-ever transit through the Taiwan Strait, but it was joined by vessels from New Zealand and Australia,
CHANGE OF MIND: The Chinese crew at first showed a willingness to cooperate, but later regretted that when the ship arrived at the port and refused to enter Togolese Republic-registered Chinese freighter Hong Tai (宏泰號) and its crew have been detained on suspicion of deliberately damaging a submarine cable connecting Taiwan proper and Penghu County, the Coast Guard Administration said in a statement yesterday. The case would be subject to a “national security-level investigation” by the Tainan District Prosecutors’ Office, it added. The administration said that it had been monitoring the ship since 7:10pm on Saturday when it appeared to be loitering in waters about 6 nautical miles (11km) northwest of Tainan’s Chiang Chun Fishing Port, adding that the ship’s location was about 0.5 nautical miles north of the No.
COORDINATION, ASSURANCE: Separately, representatives reintroduced a bill that asks the state department to review guidelines on how the US engages with Taiwan US senators on Tuesday introduced the Taiwan travel and tourism coordination act, which they said would bolster bilateral travel and cooperation. The bill, proposed by US senators Marsha Blackburn and Brian Schatz, seeks to establish “robust security screenings for those traveling to the US from Asia, open new markets for American industry, and strengthen the economic partnership between the US and Taiwan,” they said in a statement. “Travel and tourism play a crucial role in a nation’s economic security,” but Taiwan faces “pressure and coercion from the Chinese Communist Party [CCP]” in this sector, the statement said. As Taiwan is a “vital trading
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