Lawyers fear backtracking on judges’ reinstatement
KARACHI, April 3: The legal fraternity on Thursday expressed concern over the emerging political scenario and said that the President’s House and some political elements were hatching conspiracies to sabotage the lawyers’ ongoing struggle for the restoration of the pre-PCO judiciary.
Speaking at the general body meeting of the Karachi Bar Association held in the Shuhada-i-Punjab Hall of the City Courts, the lawyers urged the new government to fulfil its pledge made in the Murree Declaration to restore the judiciary to its Nov-2 position.
KBA Secretary-General Naeem Qureshi was of the view that the new political developments have clearly indicated that the pro-Musharraf political parities, including the PML-Q, would be included in the new government and the PML-N, which has a clear stance over the reinstatement of deposed judges, could be sidelined.
“Such political developments could harm efforts towards the restoration of the deposed judiciary. But, if such a situation was created, it would be strongly resisted and the legal fraternity, along with the APDM, would launch a fresh movement (against) the government,” he added.
President of the Karachi Bar Association Mahmoodul Hasan said that the legal advisers of President Musharraf were working on a constitutional package to reduce the term of the post of chief justice to three years.
“We strongly condemn such tactics and urge the newly-formed government to restore the pre-PCO judiciary in the given time. Our struggle is not against the new government and we are optimistically waiting for the reinstatement of deposed judges. But some elements are creating uncertainty amongst the lawyers,” he said.
Former president of the KBA Iftikhar Javed Qazi stated that deposed Chief Justice Iftikhar Mohammad Chaudhry had taken suo moto action regarding the so-called National Reconciliation Ordinance, May 12 violence and the cases pertaining to missing persons, and these cases would be taken up when the deposed judges were reinstated, adding that due to these major factors the new government was hesitating to restore the judiciary.
“Under these circumstances,” he said, “the lawyers must stay united in order to make the movement more effective.”
The KBA leadership also condemned a statement of PPP Senator Babar Awan, in which he reportedly said the deposed chief justice was getting involved in politics.
KBA Joint-Secretary Muzaffar Iqbal Sufi, K.K. Javed Khan, Riaz Afandi, Tariq Niazi, Haseeb-ur-Rahman and Javed Memon also spoke.
They vowed to continue the ongoing struggle till the reinstatement of all deposed judges.
Meanwhile, SHCBA President Rasheed A. Rizvi and KBA chief Mahmoodul Hasan in a joint statement have strongly condemned the manhandling of Dr Riaz Ahmed, an assistant professor at Karachi University, at the hands of the Rangers. They demanded an immediate inquiry into the incident and asked the authorities concerned to take stern action against the people responsible.
Weekly strike
Proceedings remained suspended at the City Courts and District Courts Malir on Thursday as the lawyers stayed away from court proceedings in response to a strike call given by the Pakistan Bar Council (PBC) to protest against the ousting of judges.
Undertrial prisoners were brought to the City Courts from different prisons of the city, but their cases could not be heard due to the lawyers’ strike and they were taken back to their respective prisons without being produced in court. However, the judges remained in their chambers.
Most of the stationery shops and cabins in the City Courts remained closed. Stamp vendors did open their shops but later closed up due to the lack of business. However, the canteens situated in the court premises remained open.
The Karachi Bar Association also organized a Mehfil-i-Milad at the ladies bar room.
Source: Dawn
Date:4/4/2008
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