ISAS Insights

In the second week of March 2009, it seemed Pakistan was on the verge of another bout of volatility, instability and perhaps violent clashes between the police and demonstrators protesting the verdict by a three-judge bench of the Supreme Court declaring Nawaz Sharif and his brother, Shahbaz Sharif, ineligible to hold public office. In addition, they demanded the restoration of the displaced Chief Justice of the Pakistan Supreme Court, Iftikhar Mohammad Chaudhry, and several other judges, who had been deposed during the emergency imposed by General Pervez Musharraf in late 2007.