March 17, 2007	Saturday	Safar 27, 1428

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LAHORE, March 16: Police on Friday barricaded all gates of the Lahore High Court to stop lawyers from coming on to The Mall. The lawyers who wanted to join an opposition rally at Nila Gumbund did manage to open the gates on some occasions but were pushed back each time by a strong police force.

Lahore High Court bar and Lahore bar presidents Ahsan Bhoon and Muhammad Shah, respectively, were picked up by the police early morning but were free later with a `stern warning’.

The lawyers on the LHC premises chanted anti-government slogans, mainly against President Musharraf, and demanded an immediate restoration of the suspended Justice Iftikhar Muhammad Chaudhry. Some political figures, including Azizur Rehman Chan and Ibtisam Elahi Zaheer of Jamat Ahle Hadith, also joined them.

CONVENTION: The lawyers’ bodies announced that they would hold an all-Pakistan convention of lawyers on the High Court premises on Saturday (today).

They said that a comprehensive plan would be chalked out (in the convention) to launch a countrywide protest campaign against the suspension of the chief justice.

LHCBA president Ahsan Bhoon, speaking at a press conference, said that they would hold a peaceful rally after the convention.

He said the convention would start at 9am and lawyers’ representatives from various parts of the country would deliver speeches. He said at 12pm a protest rally would be taken out.