March 25, 2007	Sunday	Rabi-ul-Awwal 5, 1428

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LAHORE, March 24: Muttahida Majlis-i-Amal president Qazi Husain Ahmad has said that the ‘worst’ crisis in the history of the country’s judiciary warrants that the legislators belonging to all political parties opposed to the military rule should quit the national and provincial assemblies and the Senate.

“We all are under a national obligation to positively respond to the democratic struggle of lawyers to save the country, the unanimously adopted 1973 Constitution and other state institutions, and ensure that there is no further intervention by the armed forces in the national affairs”, Qazi said at a lawyers convention held at Mansoora on Saturday.

He said the critical situation in the country was a rare opportunity for the opposition parties to show unity as demonstrated by the legal fraternity to rise against the `unconstitutional’ suspension of Chief Justice Iftikhar Mohammad Chaudhry, which he termed a bid to further undermine the constitutional scheme of things and to make the judiciary a hireling of the regime.

The MMA chief said despite the ‘arrogant’ attitude of the Pakistan People’s Party chairperson Benzir Bhutto, the alliance was making all out efforts for keeping the opposition united. “If I had not been bound by the MMA discipline, I would have resigned (from the assembly). I am not inclined to resign because I do not want to risk the unity of the alliance,” he added.

He said the judicial crisis was part of an international conspiracy aimed at dividing the Muslim world in general and Pakistan in particular on sectarian, ethnic and ideological basis. “We know who is behind the conspiracy and who has become instrumental in advancing an alien agenda”, he added.

Qazi criticised the regime for asserting that lawyers should not politicise a legal and constitutional issue. “This (the movement) is certainly political in its character as the common objective of all the stake-holders is the restoration of the Constitution, other state institutions and ridding the country of dictatorship; this is a movement for people’s rights and no political party should remain aloof from it”, he added.

He said the lawyers and political parties were demanding restoration of chief justice not as an individual but as head of the judiciary, which, he added, was to confront certain important constitutional issues during the election year. He said the vital issues the apex court was expected to adjudicate soon included legality of Gen Pervez Musharraf’s re-election for another term to the Presidency from the present electorate, eligibility of a serving government officer to contest for the office of the head of state and constitutional relevance of the law passed by the national legislature to allow Gen Musharraf to hold his both offices.

The convention was presided over by Hafiz Abdur Rehman Ansari, a former vice-chairperson of the Pakistan Bar Council, who declared that lawyers were contemplating to boycott the Supreme Court headed by an acting chief justice in the presence of a `constitutional’ chief justice. He said the lawyers did not accept Justice Javed Iqbal, nor they would recognise Rana Bhagwandas in that capacity because the Constitution barred such an appointment when the CJP was present in the country.

Jamiat Ulema-i-Islam deputy secretary-general Hafiz Husain Ahmad said Gen Pervez Musharraf summoned Justice Chaudhry to the Army House on March 9 because he knew that the superior judiciary had, on many occasions, validated the army intervention and the `unconstitutional acts’ by banking upon the doctrine of necessity.

He said certain political parties were trying to strike a bargain with the government even in this volatile situation, which amounted to stabbing the movement in the back. He suggested that the ongoing democratic struggle should not be confined to the reinstatement of Justice Chauydhry but it be linked with the restoration of state institutions.

A resolution adopted by the convention held Gen Musharraf responsible for the judicial crisis. Terming action against the CJP unconstitutional, it called for withdrawal of the reference against Justice chaudhry and his restoration to his office. It also demanded the resignation of the president, the restoration of the Constitution to a position as it stood on Oct 12, 1999, the establishment of an independent election commission, and the release of all those arrested during the democratic struggle.

Tehrik-i-Insaaf deputy secretary-general Admiral Javed Iqbal and over two dozen representatives from bar associations from across the Punjab, also spoke at the convention.