October 27, 2003	Monday	Sha’aban 30, 1424

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ISLAMABAD, Oct 26: The newly-elected office-bearers of the Supreme Court Bar Association (SCBA) vowed to continue their struggle against the Legal Framework Order, and said that all the decisions taken in this behalf by the association under the leadership of Mr Hamid Khan would be endorsed in the first meeting of the new body.

Chaudhry Ikram, elected as vice-president of the Supreme Court Bar Association, said Mr Hamid Khan’s group scored a thumping victory in the SCBA elections.

He said the lawyers would continue their struggle for the restoration of the 1973 Constitution as it stood on Oct 12, 1999. The lawyers’ fraternity believed that parliament was the supreme legislative body and no individual was entitled to amend the Constitution.

The argument that the Supreme Court vested General Pervez Musharraf with the legislative powers could not be subscribed for the reason that the Supreme Court itself did not enjoy legislative powers, he maintained.

Chaudhry Ikram said the newly-elected body would continue opposing extension in the retirement age of judges as they believed that it was a “dubious gift” for the judiciary by the military ruler.

He further said that the newly-elected president of the Supreme Court Bar Association, Tariq Mehmood, had resigned from the judgeship on the basis of principle.