May 03, 2007	Thursday	Rabi-us-Sani 15, 1428

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ISLAMABAD, May 2: The capital police impounded a vehicle carrying food for lawyers protesting outside the Supreme Court building during the hearing of the presidential reference against Chief Justice of Pakistan Justice Iftikhar Mohammad Chaudhry on Wednesday, sources told Dawn.

The Savour Food van was on its way to the supreme court building when the police took it into custody and shut it up at the Aabpara police station.

After getting the information, members of the Islamabad Bar Association contacted the police and asked them to release the vehicle forthwith; however, the police did not budge.

On this, a group of angry lawyers rushed to the police station to get the van released, but the police had swiftly moved it to the Shalimar police station before their arrival.

The desperate lawyers followed the vehicle to the Shalimar police station but could not find it there, as the police had taken it away to somewhere else. The lawyers then raided other police stations looking for the vehicle, but to no avail.

They continued their hunt for the food till around 4pm when it was finally handed over to them. However, by the time the lawyers took possession of the food their colleagues had already ended their protest and left the Supreme Court building.

To vent their anger, the lawyers drove the vehicle to F-8 Markaz and parked it in front of the deputy commissioner Islamabad and some senior police officers, yelling at them to take the food home and enjoy it with their families.

Earlier, the registrar of the apex court had ordered that no food stuff should be allowed into the Supreme Court premises as the protesters used its garden and the parking area for having lunch.

The left-overs are not properly disposed of and it caused environmental threats besides damaging the area, he maintained.

However, the lawyers said they arranged the food for those who came to the capital to take part in the protest. They said the parking area and garden of the court were used to have meal as there was no other proper place for the purpose.