KARACHI, March 22: Ten members of the Karachi Bar Association (KBA) observed a token hunger strike in the city courts on Thursday. Those who sat on hunger strike were Younus Shad, Riaz Afendi, Aijaz Baloch, Fateh Ali Shah, B.K Tariq, Hafiz Fazal Karim, Asif-ur-Rehman, Amjad Baloch, Latif Baloch and Mohammad Yousuf.
The lawyers boycotted the courts proceedings for an hour from 10.30am to 11.30am and left the courts’ premises in a procession. They blocked M.A Jinnah Road for about 40 minutes and observed a sit-in. They chanted anti-government and anti-Musharraf slogans.
Earlier, a KBA general body meeting held in front of the city court. Those who spoke on the occasion were KBA President Iftikhar Javed Qazi, General Secretary Naeem Qureshi and managing committee member K.K Javed Khan. They said the lawyers’ fraternity would continue its campaign till reinstatement of CJP and would never bargain over principles.
They said the judiciary was the only institution that could provide justice to the people, but the government was trying to paralyse it. “We will continue our struggle for independence of a powerful judiciary in the country,” they added.
The KBA president, when asked, told this scribe that the appointment of Justice Bagwandas as acting CJP would make no difference, saying that the decision of Supreme Judicial Council (SJC) against CJP would not be acceptable to lawyers and the campaign would continue. He said two members of the SJC were facing serious corruption charges which, he said, had already been mentioned by the CJP in his remarks.
He said in the prevailing circumstances, lawyers were not ready to end their campaign. He stressed the need that if the government was holding accountability, it should be across the board and the CJP should not be victimised. He said that lawyers were not fighting for or against an individual, but rule of law in the country.
The KBA President said that lawyers were united and would stand united to press their demands. He said that it was the KBA that had played a vital role in the campaign which, he sad, was appreciated by lawyers of different organizations in the country.
Meanwhile four members of Malir Bar Association (MBA) also observed a token hunger strike. Those who sat on hunger strike were MBA Vice President Mohammad Asharaf Samoon, MBA members Abdul Hafeez Baloch, Mohammad Ashraf and Mohammad Ilyas.
The lawyers boycotted court proceedings for two hours and took out a procession from the courts premises to Quaidabad. They raised slogans against the CJP’s suspension and pledged to continue the campaign to ensure independence of the judiciary.
