KARACHI, July 11: The legal fraternity on Wednesday reacted strongly to the military action against men, women and children in the Lal Masjid and Jamia Hafsa, and declared that all those killed in the operation were martyrs.
In a resolution adopted at the general body meeting of the Karachi Bar Association, the lawyers rejected all allegations levelled by the government against the religious leaders and their followers killed in the army operation.
Mohammad Yasin Azad, a member of the Pakistan Bar Council, and Mohammad Ali Abbasi, a member of the Sindh Bar Council, besides KBA President Iftikhar Javaid Qazi, General-Secretary Naeem Qureshi, and members Naheed Afzaal and Abdul Khaliq Junejo, spoke at the meeting.
They also condemned the political and religious parties which supported the ‘Operation Silence’, and accused Gen Pervez Musharraf of creating hatred among the provinces and pursuing the policies which were bound to disintegrate the country.
Yasin Azad termed Gen Musharraf ‘a security risk’, and said he was liable to be punished under Article 6 of the Constitution for the actions he had been taking against his own countrymen.
Expressing shock and grief over the death of many innocent people in the Islamabad mosque and seminary, he demanded that the government must come out with the exact number of casualties on either side. He claimed that the number might be above 1,000 but the government deliberately kept the media at a distance to hide the facts.
Desecration condemned
Mohammad Ali Abbasi told the audience that Gen Pervez Musharraf had no regard for mosques and shrines, adding that he should learn from the followers of other religions who would not let anyone show disregard to any of their places of worship or shrines. “Muslims will no more be in a position now to protest against the demolition of their mosques or sacred shrines by Zionists or others in any part of the world,” he said.
Condemning the government for having resorted to the extreme action, he argued that the issue might have been resolved six months back had the rulers been interested in a peaceful solution.
KBA chief Iftikhar Qazi held Gen Musharraf responsible for the burning of thousands of copies of the Holy Quran and other sacred books in the operation and demanded that he must be held accountable for the unnecessary bloodshed and destruction. He observed that the every citizen was devastated by the huge loss of life and desecration of holy places in the operation, and regretted that the rulers were still not ready to confess to their wrongdoings. He said lawyers must play a more responsible role in the prevailing situation.
Public reaction imminent
Naeem Qureshi termed the government action ‘a sheer violation of the Constitution’, and asked the legal fraternity to raise its voice by holding a demonstration on Thursday against the operation.
He said that killing of innocent students mercilessly by the troops had sent a wave of shock across the country and the man responsible for the imminent public reaction would be Gen Musharraf.
Naheed Afzaal and Abdul Khaliq Junejo deplored that the military government, after failing to prove its capability to defend the country, had now trained its guns on the countrymen just to appease the United States.
They observed that a popular uprising was brewing as more and more people were getting fed up with the rulers and their policies. Pointing out that polarisation on caste, creed and religious basis was on the rise, they said the rulers must quit now for dividing people on these lines.
Later, the participants of the general body meeting offered fateha for those killed in the ‘Operation Silence’.
It was announced that lawyers would observed a full-day boycott of court proceedings at the City Courts and take out a procession on Thursday in protest against the military operation.
Use of force slammed
The Sindh High Court Bar Association (SHCBA) also held its general body meeting on Wednesday. The Association’s Joint Secretary Ahmed Nafees Osmani and members Mohammad Mushaffy Ahmed and Waqar Shah spoke at the meeting.
They condemned the military action against the clerics and their followers at the Lal Masjid and Jamia Hafsa, and attributed the heavy loss of life to the negligence and mishandling of the affairs on the part of the government. They condemned that the government believed in resolving every issue with brute force.
They noted that Gen Musharraf had been committing blunders, and observed that he never believed in resolving any issues through peaceful means.
They laid stress on independence of the judiciary, saying that it was the only way to ensure restoration of justice and settlement of all disputes in a peaceful manner.
Meanwhile, lawyers at the Sindh High Court, the City Courts and the Malir District Courts continued their token hunger strike on Wednesday against the suspension of Chief Justice of Pakistan Iftikhar Mohammad Chaudhry.
