November 03, 2007	Saturday	Shawwal 21, 1428

LAHORE, Nov 2: The lawyers’ community and political parties who want to launch a street movement in the wake of any unconstitutional step by the government have still to narrow down their differences dubbed as ‘error of communication’ and ‘misunderstanding.’

“The political parties should join lawyers but they need to stop looking up to the GHQ (General Head Quarters),” says Human Rights Commission of Pakistan Chairperson Asma Jehangir about political parties’ role in lawyers’ drive against General Pervez Musharraf’s re-election. In the wake of an unconstitutional step, the political parties would need to join the lawyers’ movement with `perseverance’, she said.

The PPP says in the backdrop of its presence in the lawyers’ movement, such a charge is frivolous and an outcome of a `misunderstanding.’

Punjab PPP secretary general Ghulam Abbas says: “I have never missed a single (lawyers) rally. I have myself arranged for refreshments during the movement for the Chief Justice’s restoration.”

Asked about the absence of workers from the second phase of the movement, he said the presence of People’e Lawyers’ Forum (PLF), which fell under the PPP’s discipline, in lawyers’ rallies was enough.

Abbas said the party would participate in the movement against any undemocratic step the way it did when the question of restoration of the chief justice of Pakistan arose.

Talking to Dawn, Punjab PML-N president Sardar Zulfikar Khan Khosa said it needed no evidence that the PML-N workers had outnumbered others (during drive for the restoration of the chief justice). He added the lawyers could not dub the movement as their sole endeavour because the whole civil society had been involved.

About the lawyers’ drive against General Musharraf’s re-election, he said nobody had asked them to participate in it. He added the lawyers had held a demonstration in Islamabad on Oct 6 on their own, and nobody knew that the government would lose sense and make them a target of its brutality.

Answering a question, he said party’s central working committee had decided not to accept Musharraf with or without uniform. “An unconstitutional step would draw even a sharper response from the party,” he added.

He said all democratic forces should bind themselves together to fight the regime. “There was no use of getting beaten up individually,” he added.

Jamaat-i-Islami spokesman Amirul Azim said they were not invited to the rallies the lawyers held against General Musharraf’s re-election. “And when lawyers announced their programme, the party had already finalized its arrangements,” he said.

He asked the Supreme Court Bar Association to hold an all parties conference to muster anti-government support over the issue.