ISLAMABAD — For two years, Pakistani lawyer Imran Safdar regularly clashed with police, staged hunger strikes and walked off his job to pressure the country’s rulers to reinstate the deposed Supreme Court chief justice.
On Monday, the 33-year-old joined a more joyful demonstration after learning he and other activists had been successful. Hundreds gathered outside the chief justice’s house in Islamabad, cheering, chanting and playing music to celebrate the news of his reinstatement.
“I cried. I was stunned. I was wordless,” said a sweat-soaked Safdar, wearing the trademark black and white lawyer’s suit. “We have sacrificed ourselves. We have damaged our businesses. We faced state fascism!”
Prime Minister Yousuf Raza Gilani’s announcement that Iftikhar Mohammed Chaudhry would be sworn back in Saturday headed off a political crisis that threatened to destabilize a government facing a teetering economy and rising Islamist violence. Lawyers called off plans to converge in the capital and stage a sit-in at the Parliament later Monday.
Gilani also promised the restoration of a handful of other judges who had remained off the bench since former President Pervez Musharraf sacked them in 2007. He further ordered the release of activists arrested in recent days.
Opposition leader Nawaz Sharif thanked President Asif Ali Zardari and Gilani after the announcement but signaled his seemingly strengthened position by focusing on the future.
“From here, God willing, the fate of this nation will change,” Sharif said. “From here, a revolution will come.”
Zardari aide Farahnaz Ispahani said the ruling party leaders “recognized the mood of the people.”
“Instead of weakening the government or the president or prime minister it has actually strengthened the government,” Ispahani said. “We have taken the issue away from those who wanted to use mob violence and intimidation.”
