No let-up in protests by media, lawyers
RAWALPINDI/ISLAMABAD, Nov 28: Lawyers and journalists of the twin cities of Islamabad-Rawalpindi on Wednesday continued with their protest against the emergency and media curbs.
The anchor of a banned TV talk show conducted his programme on the premises of the Rawalpindi District Bar Association (DBA) after law enforcers prevented the protesters from proceeding to the Lahore High Court building.
The lawyers had decided to hold a protest at the LHC building with Hamid Mir staging his Capital Talk denouncing the ouster of senior judges and curbs on media, but the police blocked the way leading to the higher courts and did not allow even the court officials to reach there in the morning.
When they could not get to the LHC, lawyers started protesting on the premises of DBA, where Mr Mir’s talk show was also staged.
The participants, who included senior journalist Irfan Siddiqui and Defence of Human Rights Organisation Amina Masood Janjua, stressed the need for boycott of the forthcoming general elections by all political parties.
Participation by major political parties in the elections will be tantamount to validation of all unconstitutional actions taken under the Provisional Constitutional Order (PCO), they added.
They urged political parties to raise voice for the cause of 55 deposed judges, who became victims of whims of a dictator.
Lawyers also held a token hunger strike camp for two hours and observed one-hour boycott of court proceedings. They also announced to completely boycott the courts on Thursday against the efforts of the government to forcefully evict the deposed judges from their official residences.
Later, lawyers marched on the court premises with Hamid Mir and Afzal Butt raising anti-government slogans and demanded restoration of unseated judges. They resolved to uphold their demands till these are fulfilled.
Meanwhile, the Islamabad District Bar Association will also observe a strike on Thursday to protest against the assumption of the office of president by Gen Pervez Musharraf.
During the strike the lawyers will boycott the proceedings of all courts, besides staging protest marches in and around the lower courts. They will also observe an hour-long hunger strike from 11am to 12 noon.
The strike will be observed on the call of the Pakistan Bar Council.
The lawyers are observing protests since November 5 after the imposition of emergence in the country, and now their strikes have entered the fourth week.
In the first week from November 5 to 10, the lawyers boycotted the proceedings of all courts, besides holding rallies around the courts.
From November 12 onwards they boycotted the court proceedings for three hours along with observing hour-long hunger strikes and taking out processions around the courts and the offices of senior district administration and police officials.
Source: Dawn
Date:11/29/2007
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