LAHORE, July 12: The Lahore High Court Bar Association has demanded a judicial inquiry into the Lal Masjid episode. A resolution adopted by a general house of the bar demanded that the proposed judicial commission should comprise judges of the Supreme Court for ascertaining that how weapons were smuggled into the mosque, who were the suppliers, and what was the number of innocent male and female students who died in the army operation.
The resolution said the government should also be asked to identify all such mosques and seminaries where weapons were being stored so that secret agencies could not enact another such drama in future.
The meeting also offered Fateha for the innocent students killed in the operation.
Earlier, advocates Asma Jehangir, Mian Hanif Tahir, Hafiz Abdur Rahman Ansari, Lateef Sara and LHCBA president Ahsan Bhun spoke to the house.
They said the Musharraf regime used gunship helicopters, tanks and commandos to give impression to the world that the country was facing terrorists and thus the dispensation could prolong its rule.
According to them, an accused was given the right to defence in a court of law in civilized societies but in Islamabad hundreds of people were gunned down in a show of `state terrorism’.
They said first Gen Ziaul Haq had held the masses hostage for 11 years in the name of Islam and now Gen Musharraf was prolonging his rule in the name of moderation.
They said the lawyers’ drive would continue until independence of judiciary, elimination of the dictatorship and transfer of power to real representatives of the masses through a transparent, fair and peaceful election process.
STRIKE: The lawyers’ community will boycott court proceedings for the entire day on Saturday in Punjab.
A decision to this effect was taken in a meeting of the Punjab Bar Council on Thursday.
The boycott is aimed at protesting damage to 3,000 copies of the Holy Quran in Lal Masjid during the army operation, failure of the government to bury the dead according to Islamic norms, non-cooperation of the government with heirs of the seminary students whose names could not be found in official lists, barring the media from covering the operation.
The strike is also aimed at registering protest at the deteriorated law and order situation as kidnapped civil judge Malik Sanaullah was got released by his family after offering Rs4 million ransom to the kidnappers.
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