KARACHI, April 23: Following the decision of the Pakistan Bar Council and the Supreme Court Bar Association, lawyers in the Sindh High Court, City Courts and Malir Courts have announced that they will observe a complete strike on Tuesday when Chief Justice Iftikhar Mohammad Chaudhry makes his sixth appearance before the Supreme Judicial Council in Islamabad to face the reference filed against him by President General Musharraf.
The lawyers, who have planned to hold a rally against the suspension of the chief justice, will be joined by the workers and the leaders of various political parties, including all components of the Alliance for Restoration of Democracy. Expressing complete solidarity with the ongoing struggle of lawyers, the ARD Sindh announced that it will hold a rally in Saddar on Tuesday afternoon.
On Monday, lawyers in the City Courts boycotted proceedings from 10.30am to 11.30am and held a general body meeting at Shuhda-i-Punjab Hall of the Karachi Bar Association. Sindh Bar Council member Aaqil Lodhi, KBA President Iftikhar Javaid Qazi, Vice President Abdur Rashid, General Secretary Naeem Qureshi, Joint Secretary Amir Niaz Khan, KBA members Tariq Niazi, Naheed Afzal, Khalil Abbasi,Mubashir and Shahadat Awan spoke on the occasion.Referring to the decision of the KBA managing committee, they said all political parties and civil society organisations were invited to participate in the lawyers’ procession to prove that the lawyers as well as the general public was concerned about the judicial crisis in the country.
They said the presence of Sindh High Court and Peshawar High Courts members at the reception of the CJP showed that he was innocent and his reinstatement would ensure the independence of the judiciary.
“The government used different tactics to divide lawyers, but failed,” the lawyers said and added that the struggle would continue unless the courts became so powerful that could award capital punishment to any military general for violation of the country’s constitution. They said the country was founded by a lawyer, Quaid-i-Azam Mohammad Ali Jinnah, and lawyers would protect it.
Eleven members of the Karachi Bar Association observed a token hunger strike in the City Courts. They were M.A.K. Azmati, Ali Sher Rizvi, S. Gul Khan, M. Umer Baloch, Abdul Ghani, Mohammad Amin Singhar, Ghulam Mohammad Janory, Abdul Jabbar Jokio, Shama Perveen, Farhana Ali and Mohammad Aslam Rana.
Members of Malir Bar Association also stayed away from court proceedings from 10.30am to 11.30am. Four MBA members Mohammad Aslam, Ilyas Memon, Riaz Rasool Memon and Shabir Ahmed Khan observed a token hunger strike in the bar room.
It was announced that the lawyers’ procession would be followed by political activists and representatives of non-governmental organisations from the City Courts to the Karachi Press Club via the Sindh High Court on Tuesday. The Malir Bar Association members would also join them in the High Court premises and the next line of action would be decided there.
The decision of political parties to join lawyers and hold a rally at Empress Market, Saddar, at 3pm was made in a meeting of the Alliance for Restoration of Democracy, Sindh chapter, at the residence of PPP leader Syed Qaim Ali Shah.
Presided over by Zain Ansari, the meeting took stock of the political situation in the context of the lawyers’ ongoing struggle. It was decided that the ARD would stage a rally to express solidarity with the lawyers for the independence of the judiciary and against the suspension of the Chief Justice of Supreme Court Iftikhar Mohammad Chaudhry.
In a resolution, the meeting condemned the threats to lawyers fighting the case of the chief justice, use of state machinery against the lawyers by the chief minister of Sindh and registration of false case against lawyers. The resolution demanded withdrawal of all cases against the protesting lawyers.
The participants said it appeared as if the government had become unnerved by the struggle of the lawyers and the opposition parties and it was using all tactics to suppress them. They warned the government to desist from using such tactics saying that if any harm came to the families of the lawyers, the government would be held responsible.
The Muttahida Majlis-i-Amal also announced that it would stage a protest demonstration on Tuesday for the independence of the judiciary and against a presidential reference against the chief justice.
Meanwhile, Labour Party Pakistan and other organisations also announced that they would join the lawyers’ rally.
LPP general secretary Abdul Salam, central leader Nasir Mansoor, National Trade Union Federation President Ghani Zaman Awan, Progressive Youth Front leader Sherbaz Khan visited the token hunger strike camp of the lawyers and expressed solidarity with them. They assured participation of their respective groups in the rally and said they were ready to support the campaign for the independence of the judiciary.
PBC: Pakistan Bar Council Vice-Chairman Ali Ahmed Kurd has urged lawyers to burn copies of the presidential reference against Chief Justice Iftikhar Mohammad Chaudhry on Tuesday.
Meeting a seven-member batch of (token) hunger strikers in the Sindh High Court Bar room, he said the burning of the reference would signify the legal fraternity’s rejection of the reference. The protesters were garlanded by PBC members Abul Inam, Rasheed A. Razvi and Yasin Khan Azad; Sindh Bar Council Vice-Chairman M. Amin Lakhani; and SBC members Mustafa Lakhani, Mohammad Aqil, Noor Naz Agha, Sadiq Hidayatullah, Aqil Lodhi, Khalil Ahmed Dogar and Salahuddin Gandapur.
Advocates Arif Daud, M. Asghar Shaheen, Hasan Jafar Rizvi, Azhar Ejaz, Saeed Jamil, Ms Shabana Ali and Shahzad M. Saleh observed token hunger strike on Monday.
