Lawyers reject talks offer: Call for withdrawal of reference
By Waseem Ahmad Shah
PESHAWAR, March 22: Rejecting a government offer for talks, an All-Pakistan Lawyers’ Convention on Thursday demanded withdrawal of the reference against Chief Justice Iftikhar Mohammad Chaudhry and formation of a national government which should hold general elections within three months.
The convention asked President Gen Pervez Musharraf to step down and said he should be tried for treason under Article 6 of the Constitution. It also appealed to political parties to quit assemblies and join the struggle of lawyers for removal of Gen Musharraf.
Hundreds of lawyers endorsed demands put forward by Supreme Court Bar Association president Munir A. Malik. He said lawyers would not hold talks with the government till acceptance of their demands.
The convention demanded that missing people, allegedly picked up by intelligence agencies, should be freed and officials responsible for it should be tried for the offences.
An under-construction spacious hall of the Peshawar High Court and its adjacent lawn were packed to capacity and the venue continuously reverberated with slogans of “go Musharraf go.”
The lawyers’ demands included lifting restrictions on the media and exposing the conspiracy behind the attack on the offices of Geo TV.
Former SCBA president Hamid Khan, Pakistan Bar Council’s executive committee chairman Qazi Mohammad Anwer, Pakistan Bar Council vice-chairman Ali Ahmad Kurd, Sindh Bar Council vice-chairman Mohammad Ameen Lakhani, Azad Kashmir Bar Council member Mohammad Ilyas Chaudhry, SCBA vice-president Saeed Akhter, PBC member Said Rehman Khan, PHCBA president Syed Attique Shah, presidents of PHCBA’s Abbotabad and Dera Ismail Khan benches, Jan Mohammad and Daud Khan, respectively, Abbotabad Bar Council representative Qazi Arshid, Barrister Bachha, president of the Peshawar Bar Association, Fida Gul, and Ghulam Nabi Khan spoke on the occasion.
PROCESSION: The convention was followed by a protest procession from the high court. Hundreds of lawyers marched on the Sher Shah Suri Road towards the Peshawar Press Club.
The protesters also staged a sit-in near the press club.
