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ISLAMABAD - Pakistani President Pervez Musharraf appointed a new chief justice on Saturday after the imposition of a state of emergency, a government spokesman said.
The government replaced Iftikhar Muhammad Chaudhry, a thorn in the government's side since Musharraf's botched bid to sack him earlier this year, with Hameed Dogar.
Local television showed Musharraf, wearing a traditional black tunic, swearing in Dogar at the presidential palace. The ceremony was watched by Prime Minister Shaukat Aziz and several generals in ceremonial dress.
It was the first footage of Musharraf since he imposed the emergency.
"Justice Hameed Dogar was administered the oath as chief justice by President Pervez Musharraf under the new provisional constitutional order," the government spokesman said.
Musharraf suspended Chaudhry in March over allegations of misconduct, sparking mass protests. The Supreme Court reinstated Chaudhry in July and he has since handed down a series of damaging judgements against the government.
On Tuesday he accused Prime Minister Shaukat Aziz of defying a Supreme Court order to allow former premier Nawaz Sharif to return from exile and ordered the government to allow him to come home.
Sharif, the man Musharraf ousted in 1999, flew back to Pakistan on September 10 but was deported hours later to Saudi Arabia. Senior legal figures opposed the move.
"Mr Dogar cannot become the chief justice because he has a corruption reference against him," Chaudhry Ikram, former president of the Supreme Court Bar Association told reporters outside the court.
"We will resist all unconstitutional steps," he said.
- AFP /ls
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