CODEL LEAHY FIRST TO MEET RESTORED CHIEF JUSTICE

C O N F I D E N T I A L SECTION 01 OF 02 ISLAMABAD 001168

SIPDIS

E.O. 12958: DECL: 05/28/2019
TAGS: PGOV PREL KJUS MOPS EAID PINR PK
SUBJECT: CODEL LEAHY FIRST TO MEET RESTORED CHIEF JUSTICE

Classified By: Anne W. Patterson for reasons 1.4 (b),(d).


1. (C) Summary: On May 25, Codel Leahy -- Senator Patrick
Leahy (D-VT),Senator Sheldon Whitehouse (D-RI),and Senator
Mark Warner (D-VA) -- and the Ambassador, paid a courtesy
call on Supreme Court Chief Justice Iftikhar Chaudhry. This
was the first meeting by an official U.S. delegation with
Chaudhry since his restoration to the bench in late March.
Chaudhry said his forced absence from the bench for nearly
two years, under two administrations, was now in the past.
The lawyers' movement had also faded as a political force,
with boycotting lawyers finally returning to the courts. The
movement would always work for the rule of law, Chaudhry told
the Senators. He seemed unconcerned by the imposition of the
Nizam-e-Adl Regulation in Swat, saying the judges would
remain the same, appeals would still come to his Supreme
Court, and laws would still have to be constitutional. But
the militants had overstepped, violating
constitutionally-protected fundamental rights. Whether the
Frontier Crimes Regulations in the FATA are repealed or not,
Chaudhry was confident that eventually the local populace
would demand regularization with the rest of Pakistan. End
summary.

"That problem is over."
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2. (C) In the first visit by an official U.S. delegation to
restored Supreme Court Chief Justice Iftikhar Chaudhry,
Judiciary Committee Chairman Senator Leahy congratulated
Chaudhry on his long trek to return to the bench.
Restoration of the pre-November 3, 2007, judiciary would
advance the rule of law in Pakistan, a key component for a
still burgeoning democracy, Leahy added. Chaudhry concurred
that democracy would not long survive where a judiciary was
not also independent. But in reference to his removal by
former President-General Pervez Musharraf and the delayed
reinstatement by President Asif Zardari, Chaudhry concluded,
"That problem is over."


3. (C) Chaudhry went further, predicting the once politically
potent lawyers' movement would recede. The lawyers would
return to the courts and/or their respective political
parties. "It is no longer a political force," he said, but
would continue to speak out for the rule of law, the
movement's only agenda, Chaudhry claimed. For his part,
Chaudhry committed to traveling the country between hearing
sessions to speak to bar associations. He was also excited
about the June 1 implementation of a new nationwide judicial
policy, which, among other things, aimed to ensure speedy
justice and put a dent in years' of case backlogs.

On Swat and FATA
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4. (C) Asked his opinion of the same popular call for speedy
justice in Swat, Northwest Frontier Province (NWFP),leading
to the acceptance of the new Nizam-e-Adl Regulation, Chaudhry
claimed the basic system remained intact -- the old judges
would stay on the bench and many old laws and procedures
would continue to be enforced. "The Swatis can have their
own laws," he proclaimed, but those laws would still need to
be constitutional and appeals would still go to the
provincial High Court and his own Supreme Court.


5. (C) And after the Swat operation was completed by the
Pakistan military? "The regular courts never disbanded,"
Chaudhry claimed, and as soon as it was safe again, the
judges, even those recently appointed by the militants, would
return. But the militants themselves had made a fatal error,
Chaudhry added, violating fundamental rights protected in
Pakistan's constitution. He willingly took suo moto
(independent) notice of the now famous flogging incident,
which occurred in the first week of the new Regulations. The
taliban had not adhered to the system and "had crossed the
line," Chaudhry concluded.


6. (C) Asked if the Frontier Crimes Regulations (FCR) for the
Federally Administered Tribal Areas (FATA) should be repealed
or amended, Chaudhry predicted that the local populace would
soon demand the same code as applied in the rest of the
country. The change would come sooner if his commitment to
reform the national judiciary came to fruition. The majority
system, with appeals coming to his Supreme Court, would some

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day be applied in FATA too. Case in point, Chaudhry added:
his own home province of Balochistan once fell under the FCR;
the Balochis of their own accord and at their own pace
eventually asked for the Pakistan Penal Code instead.


7. (U) Codel Leahy did not clear this cable.

PATTERSON