March 18, 2007	Sunday	Safar 28, 1428

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PESHAWAR, March 17: Three office-bearers of the lawyers’ wing of the ruling Pakistan Muslim League on Saturday resigned from their posts as well as from party membership, saying they could no longer work for a party which “favoured attacks on the judiciary and the media”.

The secretary-general of the Peshawar High Court Bar Association and provincial president of the lawyers’ wing of PML-Q, Behlol Khattak, its senior vice-president, Shahabuddin Burq, and its acting general secretary, Mohammad Inam Khan, announced their decision at a general body meeting of lawyers which was jointly convened by the NWFP Bar Council, Peshawar High Court Bar Association and the Peshawar District Bar Association.

The meeting also banned the entry of Attorney-General of Pakistan Makhdum Ali Khan and advocate Khalid Ranjha in the Peshawar High Court and requested the Pakistan Bar Council to place their licences under suspension. The lawyers also decided to boycott court proceedings and to hold a lawyers’ convention on March 22.

“It is against our conscience to support the unconstitutional and illegal acts of the government against the judiciary and the media,” said Mr Khattak.

He said that from the day Chief Justice Iftikhar Mohammad Chaudhry was made ‘non-functional’ he (Mr Khattak) was in an awkward position. The government’s move could not be justified on any grounds, he claimed.

Amidst loud applause, the three office-bearers stated that a so-called lawyers’ convention was convened by federal minister Amir Muqam without their consent which was largely attended by laypeople who were provided black coats.

“Even a woman running a beauty parlour attended the so-called convention pretending to be a lawyer,” said Mr Burq. He challenged Mr Muqam and said that in the forthcoming elections of the PHCBA and the PDBA, candidates of the PML-Q would not win a single seat.

Qazi Mohammad Anwer, Masood Kausar, Abdul Lateef Afridi, Qaiser Rasheed, Essa Khan, Ghulam Nabi, Mussarat Hillali and other senior lawyers hailed their decision.

Lateef Afridi said the action against the chief justice was illegal and was aimed at intimidating and coercing the judiciary. He said judges of the superior courts should show courage and reject the reference against the chief justice because it had no legal foundation.

Barring the attorney-general and Mr Ranjha, who is representing the federal government in the case against Justice Iftikhar Mohammad Chaudhry, from the high court premises, the meeting requested the Pakistan Bar Council to refer their cases to the disciplinary committee for cancelling their licences.

It also banned the entry of four lawyers — Azam Khan, Moazzam Butt, Habib Qureshi and Intikhab Alam — in the high court. Their licences have already been suspended.

The lawyers, who had wrapped black bands around their arms, also took out a procession from the high court and marched up to the building of the Supreme Court Registry.