13 January 2004	Tuesday	20 Ziqa'ad 1424

PESHAWAR, Jan 12: The All Pakistan Lawyers Joint Action Committee has demanded restoration of true parliamentary democracy in the country. "From the statements of the Muttahida Majlis-i-Amal leaders it is clear that the 17th amendment was passed by parliament under duress and through it the military ruler tried to give a legal cover to his unconstitutional Legal Framework Order," said Tariq Mahmood, President of the Supreme Court Bar Association, while launching the second phase of the lawyers' long march here on Monday.

JAC Chairman Qazi Mohammad Anwer said lawyers' struggle would continue till the restoration of real parliamentary democracy, supremacy of the Constitution, rule of law and establishment of an independent judiciary.

Mr Mahmood said the present lot of judges of the superior judiciary should learn a lesson from the unceremonious removal of their colleagues by the present government and should undertake efforts for restoring the image of their institution.

"Our struggle is not against Gen Musharraf, but against the system. We believe that an individual in uniform has no powers to amend the Constitution through the LFO," Mr Mahmood said. Gen Musharraf had been consulting his military commanders and not parliament while taking decisions about issues of national importance, he added.

Former president of the Supreme Court Bar Association Hamid Khan said through the 17th amendment the basic shape of the Constitution had been changed. "Our struggle is for the supremacy of parliament and not of an individual," he said.

A convoy of vehicles left the premises of the high court at 11am, with banners and placards displayed on some of them. Representatives from different cities started gathering at the high court from the morning. They included Chaudhry Ikram from Rawalpindi, Senator Amanullah and Ali Ahmad Kurd from Quetta, Hafiz Ansari and Kazim Khan from Lahore, Abdul Haleem Pirzada from Karachi, Chaudhry Mohammad Ilyas from Azad Kashmir, and others.

The lawyers would march through Islamabad under the second phase. In the first phase of the long march a vehicular procession was taken out from Lahore which culminated at Islamabad.