0
KARACHI, Oct 6: Criticising the presidential election and the politicians in the same breath, the legal fraternity on Saturday reiterated that the lawyers would not accept Pervez Musharraf as president and would continue their struggle for strengthening the democratic institutions in the country.
A general-body meeting of the Karachi Bar Association held in the Shuhada-i-Punjab Hall was largely attended by its members.
KBA President and Sindh Bar Council member Iftikhar Javaid Qazi said the lawyers had always offered sacrifices for the strengthening of democracy, the independence of the judiciary and for the rule of law, but the politicians often compromised principles and served their personal interests.
He said the recent agreement of politicians with Gen Musharraf over the promulgation of an ordinance was a glaring example of selfishness which, he said, would always be remembered as a black chapter in the country’s history.
The re-election of a military general was a joke with the nation and the people were not ready to accept it, he said, adding that it was not a National Reconciliation Ordinance, but a law to protect certain persons.
Corruption cases
He said cases of corruption and criminal nature could only be decided by the courts and the steps that Pervez Musharraf took were in violation of law. Terming the promulgation of the ordinance as an undemocratic decision, he said it was against the interests of the public as well as the judiciary.
The lawyers would continue their struggle for the establishment of democracy and would not let the rulers enjoy powers in such a situation.
Stressing the need for a lawyers’ national convention, he urged the lawyers’ leadership to get together to review the situation and decide a future line of action.
KBA General Secretary Naeem Qureshi lashed out at the politicians for adopting dual policies and said that the lawyers would neither provide their platform to the politicians nor would they support any politician in the future as they had failed to play their role for the strengthening of democracy, and instead supported the military dictators.
The beneficiaries of the ordinance, he said, were only two per cent of the people while the problems of the 98 per cent were yet to be solved.
“Poor peasants and growers have been tortured for 50 years for non-payment of small loans while the politicians are given a free hand to plunder the national wealth,” he said.
Referring to the lawyers’ movement, he said it was the first and effective movement that had led to independence of the judiciary, and the politicians were expected to support it, but what they had done was all against the will of the people.
