Nawaz stopped to meet deposed CJ

ISLAMABAD—Riot police have blocked former premier Nawaz Sharif from meeting Pakistan’s deposed chief justice, who is under effective house arrest for refusing to endorse emergency rule, witnesses said Thursday. Opposition leader Sharif was turned back by around 300 policemen manning concrete and barbed wire barricades near the Islamabad residence of Iftikhar Muhammad Chaudhry, reporters said.
Hundreds of Sharif’s supporters chanted “Long live Nawaz Sharif” after their leader was turned back and burned a large poster of President Pervez Musharraf, who imposed a state of emergency on November 3. “I have come here to express solidarity with the chief justice and other judges,” Sharif told the crowd after police wielding batons and wearing helmets and body armour refused to let him through.
“I want to tell them that the entire nation stands by them. We will not rest until all these judges are restored to their pre-November 3 positions,” he said. Chaudhry was sacked as chief justice after refusing to swear an oath of allegiance to Musharraf under emergency legislation. He was among 37 judges who were forcibly retired by the government for the same reason this week. “All judges are virtually under house arrest. They can only move in the judges’ enclave,” said sacked Supreme Court judge Rana Bhagwandas, referring to the area which Sharif had tried to enter.—Online