Islamabad: Pakistan's deposed Supreme Court Chief Justice Iftikhar Muhammad Chaudhry was today prevented by police from going out of his residence here for Eid prayers.

Chaudhry, under house arrest since he was sacked by President Pervez Musharraf on November 3, had obtained permission to join the special Eid-ul-Azha prayers but was barred from stepping out of his official residence in the Judges Colony after a large group of his supporters and civil society activists tried to meet him this morning.

The deposed judge's family and even his servants were also not allowed to leave the house, eyewitnesses said. A large police contingent did not allow Chaudhry's supporters, civil society activists and lawyers to cross barb wire barricades at the Judges Colony. The group had planned to join Chaudhry for the Eid prayers.

After offering prayers on a road near the Judges Colony, the group shouted slogans against the government and demanded the reinstatement of judges who were sacked for not endorsing the emergency imposed by Musharraf last month. Musharraf, who lifted the emergency on December 15, has said that Chaudhry was involved in a "conspiracy" to remove him and asserted that the judges will not be reinstated. Meanwhile, Supreme Court Bar Association President Aitzaz Ahsan, who was yesterday released from detention for three days for the Eid holidays, was re-arrested in Rawalpindi late last night while driving from Lahore to Islamabad.

Source : PTI