KARACHI, March 26: Four members of Sindh High Court Bar Association (SHCBA) observed a token hunger strike in SHC against the suspension of Chief Justice of Pakistan Iftikhar Mohammad Chaudhry. Those who sat on hunger strike were Mohammad Aqil, Fahim Riaz Siddiqui, Abdullah Chandio, Hanif Bhatti and Mohammad Safdar.

The protestors said the lawyers’ were struggling for rule of law, independence of judiciary and strengthening of judicial institutions, adding that lawyers were fully united across the country.

They said the President’s action against the CJP was illegal and unconstitutional which, they said, had caused unrest among lawyers and democracy loving people.

Eleven members of Karachi Bar Association (KBA) observed a token hunger strike in city courts on Monday to protest against the suspension of Chief Justice of Pakistan (CJP) Iftikhar Mohammad Chaudhry. Those who sat on hunger strike were Nafees Ahmed Usmani, Qazi Mohammad Bashir, Zafar Ahmed Siddiqui, Sardar Javed Iqbal, Seraj Ahmed, Malik Jehanzeb Khan, Ibrar Baloch, Taseer Khan, Naseer Ahmaed, Farid-ul-Hasan and Qazi Rasheed Ahmed.

The lawyers also boycotted court proceedings from 10.30am and marched up to Karachi Press Club. They came out in a procession from the Shuhda-i-Punjab Hall and blocked M.A. Jinnah Road for about half an hour.

The procession then marched on Shahrah-e-Liaquat via Hassan Ali Effendi Road and went through Burnes Road and Court Road to Sindh High Court.

The protestors came out of SHC raising anti-government slogans and marched toward Sir Ghulam Hussein Hidayatullah Road and held a rally in front of Karachi Press Club.

Earlier, a KBA general body meeting was held in the city courts. It was addressed by President Pakistan Tehrik Insaf (PTI) Imran Khan, KBA President Iftikhar Javed Qazi, and General Secretary Naeem Qureshi.

Imran Khan criticised the military establishment and said that the ruling class believed in accumulation of money by any means and was not concerned about the peoples’ problems. He said the country was passing through a political and judicial crisis, people were hard put to avail basic health, education facilities even safe drinking water, and thousands of children were dying every year due to contaminated water.

He said the rulers’ only priority was to serve the interests of the United States of America. He also criticised the local bodies system and termed it an ‘evolution of corruption’, alleging that Rs5 billons were embezzled by district nazims in Punjab in the previous local bodies, who were re-elected.

About the CJP’s suspension, Imran Khan said General Pervez Musharraf did not expect such an organised rejection of his action. He added that this was an opportunity for all democratic forces to start a campaign that should ensure the supremacy of parliament otherwise the voice of the people would be suppressed forever. He said a free press, judiciary, executive and legislature were four pillars of a state and none of the pillar had the authority to usurp rights of another one or paralyse it.

The PTI chief said CJP Iftikhar Mohammad Chaudhry was removed because he did not want to go against his principles and tolerate the injustices being done with some citizens.

The KBA President and General Secretary in their speeches said their campaign would continue till the acceptance of lawyers’ demands. They demanded that the Sindh chief minister stop speaking against lawyers otherwise they warned the lawyers knew how to react. They said their campaign was aimed at reinstatement of the CJP and provision of justice to people and not against any individual. They said lawyers were rendering sacrifices for independence of the judiciary and would continue their struggle.