Pakistan Judicial crisis looms with row over judges

A judicial crisis loomed in Pakistan today after the Supreme Court blocked an order from unpopular President Asif Ali Zardari appointing two judges.

The dispute between the Supreme Court and the president is likely to become a distraction for a government struggling to fight Islamist militants and to get a sluggish economy on track.

A confrontation between the Supreme Court and former president Pervez Musharraf blew up in 2007 and undermined the authority of Musharraf, who stepped down months after his allies were defeated in a February 2008 general election.

The latest confrontation has been brewing for some weeks over appointments to the Supreme Court and provincial high courts. Zardari yesterday issued an order appointing two judges, Khawaja Sharif and Saqib Nisar, as judges of the Supreme Court and Chief Justice of the High Court in the city of Lahore respectively. But hours later the Supreme Court blocked the appointments.

A Supreme Court panel said the president’s appointment order had been suspended because Zardari had apparently violated the constitution by not consulting Chief Justice Iftikhar Chaudhry.