From house arrest, judge lashes out at Musharraf
Calling the leader extremist, he said detention is taking a toll on his family.
ISLAMABAD, Pakistan - Pakistan's deposed chief justice sharply criticized President Pervez Musharraf yesterday, calling him an "extremist general" for firing 60 judges and keeping the justice's family - including his disabled 7-year-old son - under house arrest for three months.
Iftikhar Mohammed Chaudhry's letter, smuggled out of his Islamabad residence and addressed to Western nations, showed how the U.S.-backed leader's harsh attacks on his critics appeared to be backfiring - leaving the president in more trouble as he struggles to cling to power.
On a trip to Europe last week, Musharraf launched an effort to revive his standing in the West. During the tour, he described the judge as "inept and corrupt."
In response, Chaudhry wrote a seven-page letter that was circulated yesterday at a news conference held by sympathetic lawyers and delivered to the Islamabad embassies of the United States, Britain, France, and the European Union. The lawyers would not reveal how they obtained the letter.
In it, Chaudhry questioned Musharraf's legitimacy as head of state and accused him of illegally changing the constitution and "squashing the judiciary for his own personal advantage." He has been under house arrest since Nov. 3, when Musharraf purged the judiciary after declaring a state of emergency.
"Is there a precedent in history, all history, of 60 judges including three chief justices being dismissed and arrested at the whim of one man?" Chaudhry wrote. "This incredible outrage has happened in the 21st century at the hands of an extremist general out on a 'charm offensive' of Western capitals and one whom the West supports."
Perhaps most damaging for Musharraf was Chaudhry's description of his own detention, saying he, his wife, and three children - including Balaj Iftikhar, 7, his physically disabled son - were forbidden to step onto the front lawn of their Islamabad home as it is occupied by police.
"Barbed-wire barricades surround the residence and all phone lines are cut," Chaudhry wrote. "Even the water connection to my residence has been periodically turned off. I am being persuaded to resign and to forego my office, which is what I am not prepared to do." He appealed to Western nations to investigate.
Rashid Qureshi, Musharraf's spokesman, dismissed Chaudhry's assertion that he was being detained, saying he was in fact illegally occupying an official residence that he has been asked to vacate. Qureshi also rejected Chaudhry's description of the president as an "extremist general."