Lawyers, opposition workers hold rallies: Govt accused of sending impostors
By Syed Irfan Raza and Amir Wasim
ISLAMABAD, April 3: A large number of charged lawyers and political and social activists held a protest demonstration continuously for about six hours outside the Supreme Court, demanding reinstatement of Chief Justice Iftikhar Mohammad Chaudhry as he appeared before the Supreme Judicial Council (SJC) on Tuesday.
Heavy contingents of Islamabad and Punjab police and Rangers were deployed at various places in the vicinity of the Supreme Court (SC) but they kept at a distance from the protesters. However, for the first time leaders and workers of the political parties were not allowed to enter the SC building.
“We have received a letter from the SC registrar stating that party leaders and workers carrying party flags should not be allowed to enter the apex court premises because it harms the sanctity of the court,” an official of the local administration told Dawn.
The demonstration remained peaceful except a few incidents of violence when the protesting lawyers beat two pro-government lawyers in the Supreme Court building and their colleagues outside the premises thrashed some persons, allegedly belonging to an intelligence agency, when they tried to creep into the protest rally wearing black coats.
The incident inside the SC took place when a small group of lawyers belonging to the ruling Pakistan Muslim League (PML), district nazims and intelligence agencies’ personnel chanted pro-government slogans. Angry lawyers beat Advocate Mohammad Fayyaz and a government employee, Qazi Iftikharuddin, tore their clothes and threw them out.
Later, the two lodged a case with Secretariat police complaining that they had been beaten by unidentified people.
Office-bearers of the Supreme Court Bar Association (SCBA) told media representatives that Mr Fayyaz had revealed that he had come with some other lawyers of the ruling party and local leaders of Gujrat to sabotage the lawyers’ programme on the instructions of the government.
They said some ‘intruders’ in the guise of lawyers had also manhandled some journalists to create a rift between them.
They claimed that one of the intruders, Qazi Iftikhar, was an employee of an intelligence agency and he had been brought to the capital from Lahore.
The SCBA condemned the misbehaviour with and manhandling of members of the press by the ‘intruders’ in black coats. “By this act an effort has been made to sidetrack the movement of the lawyers and strict action under the law would be taken against those responsible for this highly condemnable act,” SCBA vice-president Sahibzada Anwar Hamid, secretary Syed Zulfiqar Ali Bokhari and executive member Khawaja Tariq Sohail said in a statement.
The journalists covering the SCJ proceedings adopted a resolution condemning the incident in which unidentified people wearing black coats had manhandled them.
The chief justice was warmly welcomed by the lawyers and political workers chanting vociferous slogans when he reached the SC to appear before the SJC.
The leaders of the opposition parties reached the Constitution Avenue in small processions. Almost all the main leaders, except Muttahida Majlis-i-Amal president Qazi Hussain Ahmed, who had been put under house arrest on Monday, were present outside the Supreme Court and remained there for more than six hours.
Throughout the time, the activists carrying huge party flags and placards kept chanting anti-government slogans. ‘Go Musharraf go’ was the most widely used slogan. They demanded restoration of the chief justice and resignation of President Pervez Musharraf. Some activists also raised slogans in favour of their party leaders. Former president Rafiq Tarar, Raja Zafarul Haq, Chaudhry Nisar Ali Khan, Iqbal Zafar Jhagra, Tehmina Daultana, Sabir Shah, Khawaja Asif and other leaders of the Pakistan Muslim League (Nawaz) staged a sit-in outside the Supreme Court.
Qazi Hussain Ahmed addressed the protesters by telephone through a loudspeaker.
People’s Party Parliamentarians workers reached the SC under the leadership of Alliance for the Restoration of Democracy chairman Makhdoom Amin Fahim. Raja Pervez Ashraf, Mir Baz Khetran, Sherry Rehman, Farzana Raja, Enver Baig, Fakhar Imam, Abida Hussain, Latif Khosa, Zamarrud Khan, Nargis Faiz Malik, Malik Hakmin Khan and some other MNAs and MPAs participated in the protest.
Leader of the Opposition in the National Assembly Maulana Fazlur Rehman left the venue of the protest early. Pakistan Tehrik-i-Insaf chairman Imran Khan, former director-general of Inter-Services Intelligence Hameed Gul and Rasool Bakhsh Palejo of the Awami Tehrik were also present.
ISLAMABAD, April 3: A large number of charged lawyers and political and social activists held a protest demonstration continuously for about six hours outside the Supreme Court, demanding reinstatement of Chief Justice Iftikhar Mohammad Chaudhry as he appeared before the Supreme Judicial Council (SJC) on Tuesday.
