Iftikhar Muhammad Chaudhry was removed by former president Musharraf because he was seen as non-corrupt and independent of the executive, and current Pakistani President Asif Ali Zardari reneged on his promise to reinstate him because he was afraid that he would investigate his own personal corruption, and that he would likely overturn the ban on rival opposition leader Nawaz Sharif.

Well, with a massive protest converging on the capital, Islamabad, and police unwilling to enforce his ban on the protest in many places, Zardari has backed down and will reinstate Chaudhry.

This is good news for Pakistan on a number of levels, it reinforces the rule of law, it is a step away from dictatorship, and it reinforces the concept of an independent judiciary.