May 13, 2007	Sunday	Rabi-us-Sani 25, 1428

LAHORE, May 12: ARD Chairman Makhdoom Amin Fahim and PML-N Chairman Raja Zafarul Haq on Saturday supported the lawyers’ struggle for the independence of the judiciary, rejecting President Musharraf’s assertion that the legal fraternity was trying to politicize the issue of reference against Chief Justice of Pakistan Iftikhar Muhammad Chaudhry.

“The lawyers have not involved themselves in politics. In fact, it is Gen Musharraf who is violating his oath by taking part in politics and addressing rallies”, said the ARD chairman after the president’s address to a PML rally in Islamabad late Saturday night.

President Musharraf, in his speech, urged the lawyers not to politicize what was essentially a judicial issue and that they should stop protests against the reference. He had also said that lawyers would have to stay away from politics for the sake of the independence of the judiciary.

Mr Fahim said if lawyers received the Chief Justice of Pakistan in various cities, it would not be right to say that they had involved themselves in politics. He advised the president to wait for the Supreme Court’s verdict on the reference.

PML-N Chairman Raja Zafarul Haq said the presidential reference was not purely a constitutional and legal issue. He said the very framing of the Constitution was the result of a political process.

The protection of the Constitution, Raja said, was not an issue confined to the law courts. He said the Constitution belonged to the entire nation and every citizen was duty-bound to protect it.

As for the lawyers protest movement, the PML-N leader said, it was aimed at resisting the government’s moves to suppress the judiciary. The lawyers, he said, had adopted the right course to express solidarity with the judiciary.

He said at Sunday’s ARD meeting the PML-N would propose that all opposition parties should get united to deal with the challenges ahead or face collective failure.

meeting: ARD chairman Makhdoom Amin Fahim has called an emergency meeting of the 16-party alliance at the PPP Secretariat in Islamabad on Sunday (today) to discuss the situation after the killings in Karachi on Saturday.

Mr Fahim said the meeting would hold discussions on steps needed to dislodge the government which he held responsible for the killings.