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No tutor allowed for detained CJ children
Islamabad, Jan 18, 2008: The government has turned down the deposed chief justice Iftikhar
Muhammad Chaudhry's request for the provision of a tutor for his children, who
too are under house arrest since November 3, 2007.
Schooling is no more
an option for three children, seven-year-old son Ahmad Balaj, 16-year-old
Palwasha Iftikhar and 18-year-old Ifra Iftikhar.
Though Justice
Iftikhar's eldest daughter Aysha Iftikhar and his first son Arsalan Iftikhar are
also detained with the whole family, they have completed their education.
Family sources said Iftikhar asked for a tutor for Balaj and Palwasha
but he was conveyed a "No" from the government. Balaj is a Grade-I student while
Palwasha is in A-levels. Interior ministry sources also confirmed that the
request of the deposed CJ was turned down.
However, despite these
difficult times, it was Palwasha who wrote an open letter recently to her
honourable uncles (all the deposed judges of the superior judiciary) saying:
"This might be one of the crucial times we are facing but we should be proud
that Allah chose us to sacrifice for this country.
Yes it is indeed a
sacrifice, which we have to bequeath, not for ourselves but for this country.
Ever since I opened my eyes I have seen my father affiliated with
judiciary and now it is like a part of our lives.
Our life is like a
tree and the judiciary is one of its branches.
We have grown up with
this branch and we cannot let anybody slice it. If we will not protect it, then
who else?"
Ifra Iftikhar has been, however, a little bit lucky to have
succeeded in taking her English A Level paper during the days of detention.
It was the British Council, which within a few days of the Nov 3
imposition of emergency, reportedly approached the government to get permission
for the CJ's daughter to take the examination at her father's official
residence.
The eldest of Justice Iftikhar's five children, Dr Arsalan is
too facing a strange situation at the very beginning of his practical life.
Arsalan, who was at the centre of controversy in his father's suspension
on March 9, had requested his repatriation to Balochistan leaving both police
and the FIA just before yet another executive attack on his father on November
3.
He went on leave soon after his father became the victim of the
government's March 9 misadventure.
According to the family sources,
despite all the odds the CJ family is facing today, the morale of each member of
the family is high.
"These days they are busy in prayers and other
religious rituals," a source said, adding that they were positive about the
outcome of their struggle. The News
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