September 6, 2003	Saturday	Rajab 8, 1424

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LAHORE, Sept 5: Lawyers on Friday gave call for a long march against the Legal Framework Order on Oct 13 to be followed by a national convention in Islamabad.

This was decided by an all Pakistan lawyers’ conference held at the Lahore High Court. The participants unanimously rejected the LFO, declaring it an extra-constitutional tool introduced to bypass parliamentary democracy.

They demanded that the superior courts’ judges who had not yet attained the age of retirement under the 1973 Constitution should be administered the oath afresh under the Constitution.

The conference criticized the chief justice for defending the LFO and declaring it a part of the Constitution. It said the Joint Action Committee’s decision to boycott the oath-taking ceremony of the eight additional judges of the LHC was in harmony with the feelings of the entire legal fraternity.

The conference, attended by the members of the Pakistan Bar Council, Supreme Court Bar Association, Lahore High Court Bar Association and Punjab Bar Council, condemned the closure of the SCBA offices at the Karachi and Lahore registries and demanded that the offices be de-sealed forthwith.

The lawyers held that only parliament was authorized to amend the Constitution. They resolved that Gen Pervez Musharraf was disqualified to serve as president under Article 41 and 43 of the Constitution. The proposal to constitute a National Security Council was rejected.