Ex-Pakistani justice denounces martial law

LAHORE, Pakistan, March 21 (UPI) -- Former Pakistani Chief Justice Iftikhar Mohammad Chaudhry has denounced the imposition of martial law and nullification of the Pakistani Constitution.

Chaudhry said during a Thursday phone call with the Lahore Bar Association that courts have been burdened since Pakistan's birth, the country's English-language newspaper DAWN reported.

"But now things have changed drastically because people have rejected the dictatorship and supported independent judges," Chaudhry said.

Bar members responded with cheers in support of the deposed Chaudhry and spoke in opposition of President Pervez Musharraf, DAWN said.

Chaudhry reportedly argued that the Pakistani Supreme Court decision against Musharraf's November 2007 declaration of emergency and Preliminary Constitutional Order are still valid.

"A decision violative of the Constitution neither has constitutional and legal significance nor required a fiat for setting it aside. It should be ignored completely," Chaudhry said.