Quetta, Apr 23 : Justice (Retd) Rana Bhagwandas, the only Hindu judge to be installed as one of the Pakistan Supreme Court judges, has rejected the “minus-one” formula, saying that reinstatement of all deposed judges except deposed Chief Justice Iftikhar Mohammad Chaudhry would “aggravate” the judicial crisis and that it would harm the cause of independence of the judiciary and the rule of law.

He said that if an individual (read President Pervez Musharraf) could remove the judges, there should be no reason that parliament could not reverse the illegal act.

Lauding Justice Iftikhar’s decision of refusing to resign when he had been summoned to the President’s camp office last year, he said the chief justice had set a new example of judiciary’s independence.

Justice Iftikhar was the symbol of independent judiciary and accepting the so-called ‘minus-one’ formula would be tantamount to endorsing the dictatorial steps, the Dawn quoted Justice Bhagwandas as saying.

He further said that some hidden hands were trying to divide the lawyers’ community and create misunderstanding between parliament and lawyers on the issue of reinstatement.

He also said that unity between lawyers and the civil society would guarantee constitutional and fundamental rights of the people and strengthen the rule of law for safeguarding the interests of all institutions. (ANI)