LAHORE, Oct 18: A general house meeting of the Lahore High Court Bar Association on Monday beseeched the chief justice of Pakistan to save the state and the constitution by taking a suo motu notice of a recent National Assembly enactment which entitled Gen Pervez Musharraf to retain the office of the chief of the army staff while in the presidency.

"The National Assembly has relegated the constitutional rule of the country to a personal rule through an act which overrides the constitution and which makes state institutions subject to the whims of an individual", said a resolution which was unanimously approved at the meeting chaired by LHCBA president Ahmad Awais.

The resolution said the MNAs, who voted for the bill to enact a law overriding the constitutional provisions relating to political offices, had committed high treason and were liable to be tried for abrogation of the constitution under Article 6 of the basic law.

Moved by Advocate Ghulam Sarwar Nihang, the resolution also urged the ARD, the MMA and other democratic forces to shun their differences at "this critical hour" of the history and join their hands to get the people rid of the uniform for all times to come. It also called on the legal fraternity to rise to the occasion to play their role in restoration of an undiluted democracy, an independent judiciary and the rule of law.

The resolution also condemned the Punjab Sindh assemblies for passing similar resolutions and said that the National Assembly had played a havoc with democratic institutions by introducing the 17th Amendment to the constitution which legitimized the military rule.

Speaking on the resolution, lawyers, who included Ahmad Awais, Hafiz Abdur Rehman Ansari, Malik Munsif Awan, Dr Farooq Hasan, Mohammad Kazim Khan, Nazir Ahmad Ghazi, Azam Nazir Tarar and Malik Saeed Hasan declared that lawyers would fulfil their duty to protect the state institution and a democratic order by launching a democratic movement. They said that the MNAs, who voted for the bill, were exposed by supporting a move that virtually abrogated the constitution.

They said the MNAs had 'stripped' themselves naked before the people by allowing Gen Pervez Musharraf to continue wearing uniform during his stay in the presidency.