LAHORE, March 6: The Supreme Court Bar Association and office-bearers of other Bar associations on Thursday regretted that the chief justice of Pakistan had not responded to their letter, requesting him to retire on March 8. They also reaffirmed their call to observe Saturday as Black Day.

Talking to newsmen, SCBA President Hamid Khan said in case the chief justice did not quit on March 8, the date he was supposed to retire under the provisions of the 1973 Constitution, it would give rise to a constitutional vacuum.

The Bar associations had requested the chief justice to step down from his office without accepting three-year extension in the retirement age enforced through the LFO on January 1 this year. The associations had also given a call to observe March 8 as Black Day following the CJ’s refusal to retirement.

“The continuation of the CJ’s services after March 8 will bring constitutional crisis and the country’s judicial system will be in disarray,” Mr Khan feared. However, he hoped that the chief justice would still opt for a decision for the benefit of the judiciary and the country.

He threatened that the Bar associations would otherwise start agitations. Black flags would be hoisted on the buildings of all the associations and lawyers would wear black badges on that day, he added.

The SCBA also regretted that the LFO had not been withdrawn as yet, and praised parliamentarians for “having taken a strict stance on it.” He claimed that whatever happened in parliament in the last two days was the outcome of lawyers’ struggle against the abolition of the LFO.

The SCBA condemned the nomination of Federal Law Secretary Justice Mansoor Ahmad to the International Tribunal for Rwanda. His nomination was gross abuse of authority since he had less than one year’s standing as a judge, the Bar alleged.

Lahore High Court Bar Association President Hafiz Abdul Rahman Ansari announced that a meeting of the LHCBA office-bearers would be convened tomorrow (Saturday) to discuss the latest constitutional situation. He also said copies of the LFO would be burnt in the LHC as a symbolic protest.

Muhammad Arif Chaudhry, vice-president of the Punjab Bar Council, supported the SCBA and LHCBA stance on the LFO and three-year extension in the superannuation age of judges, saying the lawyers would always strive for the restoration of the 1973 Constitution and PBC would abide by the SCBA agitation plan.