=> KARACHI, Dec 26: Legal proceedings remained suspen
KARACHI, Dec 26: Legal proceedings remained suspended on Wednesday at the City Courts and the Malir District Courts as lawyers responded to the Pakistan Bar Council’s (PBC) call for a strike to condemn the Dec 21 police action against the president of the Supreme Court Bar Association, Aitzaz Ahsan.
Released on Dec 20 for three days, Mr Ahsan was rearrested in the small hours of Dec 21 while on his way to Islamabad to offer Eid prayers with the deposed chief justice of Pakistan, Iftikhar Mohammed Chaudhry. Reportedly, the senior lawyer was manhandled and forced to travel in an open police van for several hours in cold weather, and has been suffering high fever since then.
On Wednesday, under-trial prisoners were brought to the City Courts from different prisons but their cases could not be heard because of the lawyers’ strike, while the judges remained in their chambers.
Most of the stamp vendors and stationery shops remained closed and the few shops that had opened in the morning were later shuttered due to the lack of business. However, the canteens in the City Courts’ premises were open.
The legal fraternity vowed to continue its struggle against the ousting of the chief justice and judges of the Supreme Court, the arrest and detention of the top PBC leadership and other lawyers across the country, and the amendments made to the Constitution by President Musharraf.
‘Fair elections not possible’
Meanwhile, the Karachi bar Association (KBA) strongly condemned the violence committed against Mr Ahsan and urged the government to take action against the people responsible. It demanded the release of Mr Ahsan and other detained leaders of the PBC.
At a KBA general body meeting held on Wednesday at the Shuhada-i-Punjab Hall of the City Courts, KBA general-secretary Naeem Qureshi said that the government was victimising Mr Ahsan in order to derail the lawyers’ movement but the struggle would continue until an independent judiciary was restored. Ruling out the possibility of free or fair elections as long as President Musharraf was in power, Mr Qureshi condemned the participation of political parties in the polls and lauded the All Parties’ Democratic Movement (APDM) boycott stance. He added that the newly-elected KBA cabinet would take the ongoing struggle forward with continued passion and enthusiasm, and that the KBA would respect and implement the decision taken by the PBC and the Sindh High Court Bar Association (SCHBA).
The newly-elected president of the KBA, Mahmood-ul-Hassan, also condemned the police action against Mr Ahsan. Speaking out against the military operations under way in the NWFP and Balochistan, he said that innocent people were being killed and urged the government to send the troops back to the barracks.
Mushtaq Ahmed Jahangiri, the newly-elected vice-president of the KBA, also condemned the military operations in different parts of the country and urged the government to resolve the issues through dialogue.
Hafiz Balouch and Hakim Ali Sheikh also spoke at the occasion.
Boycott to continue
The Karachi Bar Association has announced that a complete boycott of proceedings will be observed at the City Courts today (Thursday), in compliance with the Pakistan Bar Council’s call to protest against the ousting of the judges of the Supreme Court and high courts, the detention of lawyers and the PBC leadership, the amendments to the Constitution and the amendments to the Legal Practitioners and Bar Councils Act, 1973.
The general-secretary of the KBA, Naeem Qureshi, confirmed with Dawn that a complete boycott of court proceedings will be observed on Thursday, adding that the one-hour (11am-noon) boycott will continue every day while a complete strike will be observed every Thursday. “We plan to stage a protest demonstration on Thursday but will decide then whether to remain within the premises of the City Courts or go outside the courts,” he said.
Meanwhile, the president of the Malir Bar Association, Zahoor Hussain Mehar, told Dawn a complete strike was observed at the Malir District Courts on Wednesday and the strike would continue on Thursday in compliance with the directives of the Pakistan Bar Council.
Source: Dawn
Date:12/27/2007
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