Topic: Iftikhar Muhammad Chaudhry

Iftikhar Muhammad Chaudhry (Urdu: افتخار محمد چودھری) (born 12 December 1948 in Quetta) is the current Chief Justice of Pakistan. He was appointed as Chief Justice by Pakistani President Gen. Pervez Musharraf on May 7, 2005. He was suspended by President General Musharraf on March 9, 2007, when he refused to oblige Musharraf by refusing to resign. The move sparked the historic Lawyers' Movement which claimed as its first victory the reinstatement of Chaudhry by an order of the Supreme Court on July 20, 2007. Chaudhry was represented before a Full Court by Aitzaz Ahsan, Shahid Saeed, Gohar Khan and Nadeem Ahmed .This was the first recorded case of such suspension in the history of Pakistan.

After having been elected as President for second term by the Parliament, Musharraf in November 2007 pre-empted an impending court decision against his re-election and suspended the constitution and declared a state of emergency. Justice Chaudhry reacted promptly, convening a seven-member bench which issued an interim order against this action.

In March 2009, the Lawyers supported by various political parties started a decisive movement to reinstate Chaudhry Iftikhar and other deposed Judges. A long march from all over the country was declared soon after. Finally, the government reinstated Chaudhry Iftikhar and other deposed Judges on 16 March, 2009 through an executive order by the President of Pakistan.