Suspension of Iftikhar Muhammad Chaudhry the Supreme Court. Later it was explained that the senior-most judge after the Chief Justice was Justice Rana Bhagwandas, but since he was away from the country, Justice Javed Iqbal being the second in line was made the acting head of the apex court until Justice Bhagwandas would return. The move to make Justice Iftikhar Chaudhry 'non-functional' was immediately followed by yet another decision by the president to send a reference under Article 209 of the Constitution of Pakistan to the Supreme Judicial Council (SJC) to investigate allegations of misconduct against him. Justice Chaudhry was called on by the President
Suspension of Iftikhar Muhammad Chaudhry the Supreme Court building during hearing of the reference. Earlier, Justice Iftikhar Muhammad Chaudhry reached Supreme Court along with his lawyers Barrister Aitzaz Ahsan, Hamid Ali Khan and Justice (Rtd) Tarique Mehmood to appear in the Supreme Judicial Council hearing of presidential reference against him. Barrister Aitzaz Ahsan, leading lawyer assisting the non-functional Chief Justice in the reference, talking to newsmen said that he would raise various objections before the SJC in today's hearing. He said that he will argue for open trial of Justice Iftikhar Chaudhry in the hearing, as people should know the truth of charges against the