A movement led by black-coated lawyers achieved a defining victory for the rule of civil law in Pakistan on Monday with the restoration of illegally deposed Supreme Court Chief Justice Iftikhar Muhammad Chaudhry. This highly popular movement provides an opportunity to strengthen the Pakistani state, improve the judicial system's responsiveness, and resist creeping Talibanization. Shortly after sunrise on Monday, Prime Minister Yousuf Raza Gilani ended a prolonged judicial crisis by announcing that Chaudhry, sacked by former president Pervez Musharraf, would once again become the chief justice of the Supreme Court of Pakistan. In November 2007, Musharraf removed Chaudhry, who had become an obstacle to Musharraf's illegal run for president while simultaneously serving as army chief. Chaudhry had already challenged the executive on a number of occasions earlier that year, including when he ordered it to present dozens of ghost prisoners from the military's counterterrorism operations before the court.
Victory for Civil Law in Pakistan a First Step
