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| 24 January 2004 | Saturday | 01 Zilhaj 1424 |
Lawyers demand release of scientists
ISLAMABAD, Jan 23: The lawyers of the country observed a partial strike on Friday to express solidarity with nuclear scientists who have been taken into custody on the pretext of "debriefing," and demanded their immediate release.
The call for the strike after 10:30am on Friday was given by the Vice Chairman of the Pakistan Bar Council, Qazi Mohammad Anwar, and Advocate Chaudhry Mohammad Ikram, Vice President of the Supreme Court Bar Association.
The representatives of SCBA, Lahore High Court Bar Association, Rawalpindi Bench, Islamabad District Bar Association and Rawalpindi District Bar Association along with families of the detained scientists held a protest demonstration outside the Supreme Court building and demanded an end to harassment of national heroes who had made Pakistan invincible by providing nuclear deterrence.
Speaking at the gathering Vice Chairman of the Pakistan Bar Council Qazi Anwar asked the government to explain to the nation under what law the scientists had been detained.
He said because of these national heroes, Pakistan was today a nuclear power. He also demanded that the government should immediately stop the harassment of the scientists and release them. He vowed to continue the struggle till all scientists and engineers were released.
Earlier, Vice President of SCBA Muhammad Ikram Chaudhry said the harassment of the KRL scientists was against the basic human rights guaranteed in the 1973 Constitution. He regretted the national heroes were being humiliated on the instigation of the United States and its agency Federal Bureau of Investigation.
Secretary-General of Rawalpindi Bench of the Lahore High Court Bar Association Shah Khawar, Member of the Punjab Bar Council Muhammad Nawaz, President of the Rawalpindi District Bar Association Ghazanfar Shah and family members of the scientists also spoke on the occasion and demanded of the government to release the scientists immediately.
Earlier, Ihtshamul Haque, brother of detained Islamul Haque (Principal Staff Officer Dr A.Q. Khan) asked the Chief Justice of Pakistan to take suo motu notice against the illegal detention of the scientists.
The daughter of a detained scientist said when she went to her college her colleagues asked what wrong her father had done. She regretted that her father had used all his waking hours in making the country invincible and he got medals on his good performance. However, now the government was humiliating him.
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