Reinstated, Chief Justice Bears Hopes of Pakistan: New York Times

ISLAMABAD, Pakistan — At a Supreme Court hearing on Thursday in a property dispute, the defendant, Gul Zameen, insisted that Chief Justice Iftikhar Muhammad Chaudhry personally take his case rather than assign it to other justices, as his opponent requested.

“Please, I want you to hear the case,” said Mr. Zameen, 55, who has been fighting over a house in North-West Frontier Province since 1991.

Much to his relief, Mr. Chaudhry agreed.

“We hope he will do justice,” Mr. Zameen’s son, Shahid Rafiq, said later. “Not only with us but with everybody.”

Since returning to the bench last week for the first time since he was ousted two years ago by Pervez Musharraf, then Pakistan’s president, Mr. Chaudhry has faced a groundswell of expectations from people like Mr. Zameen and from the politicians and lawyers who struggled to get him reinstated. Just as his ouster became a national symbol of political interference in the judiciary, millions of Pakistanis have invested his return with hopes that he will set every injustice right.

“Many people saw him as a savior, and he is a savior for them, even though the lawyers’ movement was essentially aimed at upholding the rule of law,” said Babar Sattar, a constitutional lawyer, who warned that such unrealistic hopes were bound to produce disappointments. “Some expectations will be frustrated, as a lot of different people have different expectations.”

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