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
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