03-20-2007, 12:54 AM
<b>Pakistan's Next Chief Justice Seeks Spiritual Solace In India</b><!--QuoteBegin-->QUOTE<!--QuoteEBegin-->Rana Bhagwan Das, the man who may become Pakistan's next chief justice, was on Monday seeking spiritual solace far from the tumultous protests at home over the sacking of his superior, news reports said. Das, the only Hindu judge in Pakistan's apex Supreme Court, is slated to succeed former chief justice Iftikhar Chaudhry who was sacked for alleged misuse of authority by Pakistan President Pervez Musharraf on March 9.
Away from the political storm in Pakistan over the issue, Das has spent the past 20 days in Lucknow, about 500 kilometres south-east of India's national capital Delhi, attending religious discourses, IANS news agency reported.
<b>The low-profile Das is a member of the Hindu Sindhi community from the Pakistani region of Sindh, most of whom migrated to India after partition of the country into India and Pakistan in 1947.
He has been attending the daily spiritual discourse of Hindu guru Ma Lila Sanjnani in Lucknow, capital of India's Uttar Pradesh state, while also attending functions to celebrate Cheti Chand, the Sindhi new year festival.</b>
The Pakistani judge has visited Lucknow around this time for the past seven years to attend spiritual discourses organized by the local Sindhi community.
<b>He has reportedly refused the hospitality of the local government and judges, saying he prefers to live like an ordinary devotee and attends daily discourses with 300 others.
"I have come here solely on my routine spiritual mission and would like to confine myself to this,"</b> Das is said to have told a senior judicial official.
With Das in India, the senior-most judge available has taken over Iftikar Chaudhry's duties in Pakistan's Supreme Court. Chaudhry still holds office but is not allowed to function. He is due to appear before a panel of senior judges on Wednesday to answer the charges against him. <!--QuoteEnd--><!--QuoteEEnd-->
Away from the political storm in Pakistan over the issue, Das has spent the past 20 days in Lucknow, about 500 kilometres south-east of India's national capital Delhi, attending religious discourses, IANS news agency reported.
<b>The low-profile Das is a member of the Hindu Sindhi community from the Pakistani region of Sindh, most of whom migrated to India after partition of the country into India and Pakistan in 1947.
He has been attending the daily spiritual discourse of Hindu guru Ma Lila Sanjnani in Lucknow, capital of India's Uttar Pradesh state, while also attending functions to celebrate Cheti Chand, the Sindhi new year festival.</b>
The Pakistani judge has visited Lucknow around this time for the past seven years to attend spiritual discourses organized by the local Sindhi community.
<b>He has reportedly refused the hospitality of the local government and judges, saying he prefers to live like an ordinary devotee and attends daily discourses with 300 others.
"I have come here solely on my routine spiritual mission and would like to confine myself to this,"</b> Das is said to have told a senior judicial official.
With Das in India, the senior-most judge available has taken over Iftikar Chaudhry's duties in Pakistan's Supreme Court. Chaudhry still holds office but is not allowed to function. He is due to appear before a panel of senior judges on Wednesday to answer the charges against him. <!--QuoteEnd--><!--QuoteEEnd-->