New York, Feb. 4: The President of the Pakistan Supreme Court Bar Association, Aitzaz Ahsan, has asked the United States to seek release of the detained former Chief Justice of Supreme Court Iftikhar Chaudhry, calling him Pakistan’s “best hope for returning to a democratic path”.

Terming the US strategy on Pakistan “dangerously short-sighted”, Ahsan claimed in article for Newsweek that Washington is “blind to the overwhelming support Justice Iftikhar enjoys at home and abroad”.

“Washington continues to pay lip service to the need for an independent judiciary in Pakistan while doing nothing to support one. This strategy is dangerously shortsighted. The United States has every reason to worry about terrorism and instability in Pakistan. But allowing Musharraf to continue arresting judges and peaceful protesters will only strengthen the terrorists’ hand. If we lock up our judges and subvert the legal process, then those who believe in a more brutal kind of justice will triumph,” he said in the article. (ANI)