Suspension of Iftikhar Muhammad Chaudhry Suspension of Iftikhar Muhammad Chaudhry Chief Justice of Pakistan Iftikhar Muhammad Chaudhry was made a "non-functional Chief Justice" on 9 March 2007. In so acting, President Pervez Musharraf invoked two main clauses of the Constitution of Pakistan. The suspension evoked a nationwide popular mass protest movement led by lawyers, known as the Lawyers' Movement and eventually culminated with the Pakistan Long March. President of Pakistan, General Pervez Musharraf on 9 March 2007 virtually suspended the Chief Justice of Pakistan, Justice Iftikhar Mohammad Chaudhry, and appointed the next most senior judge available, Justice Javaid Iqbal, as the acting Chief Justice of
Asif Ali Zardari tried to force his brother Shahbaz Sharif to resign as Chief Minister of Punjab province. Zardari dismissed the Punjab provincial government and only partially reinstated the judiciary by restoring 56 other judges deposed by Musharraf—but not their former leader, Chief Justice Iftikhar Chaudhry. After Nawaz Sharif defied house arrest and rallied with thousands of his supporters, the Sharif brothers vowed to join forces with the Lawyers' Movement in the "Long March". Zardari's government gave in to popular pressure and Prime Minister Gilani in an early morning speech on 16 March 2009 promised to reinstate Chaudhry by 21 March. Ten judges