November 15, 2007	Thursday	Ziqa’ad 04, 1428

PESHAWAR, Nov 14: Lawyers have called upon international human rights organisations to raise their voice against alleged torture of their detained leaders, including Chaudhry Aitzaz Ahsan, Ali Ahmad Kurd, Munir A. Malik and Justice (retd) Tariq Mahmood, by intelligence agencies.

Amid complete boycott of the Peshawar High Court, the lawyers held a public meeting followed by a protest demonstration. A hunger strike camp was also set up on the premises of the high court. More than a dozen lawyers observed the hunger strike.

The high court was encircled by riot police. All the walls of the high court were adorned with black banners, posters and placards inscribed with different slogans.

A large number of lawyers attended the protest meeting presided over by former PHCBA president Barrister Masood Kausar.

Advocate Athar Minallah, who has remained in touch with deposed Chief Justice Iftikhar Mohammad Chaudhry, said the civil society, political parties and ordinary people were joining hands with the protesting lawyers and with their support the military ruler would be ousted.

Conveying the chief justice’s message to the lawyers of Peshawar, he quoted Justice Iftikhar as saying he would support the lawyers’ movement till the last drop of his blood, even if a single lawyer was left.

He said the chief justice had stated that the ongoing movement was, in fact, a battle for the survival of Pakistan.

Mr Minallah said the government was mistaken if it thought that it could damage the morale of the lawyers by arresting their leaders.

He said the boycott of the PCO-based courts by the lawyers across the country had proved that there was complete unity in their ranks.

Barrister Kausar said the judicial history of the country was not enviable till March 9 when the chief justice was suspended and the entire country rose

in revolt against the military ruler.

“You can conquer a territory but you can’t conquer sovereign people,” he said amid slogans of ‘Go Musharraf go’.

He said that with people’s power the lawyers would soon bring their real Chief Justice (of PHC) Tariq Pervez to the high court and they would appear before him and not before the judges who had taken oath under the Provisional Constitution Order and betrayed their brother judges.

“The constitution can never be suspended as it is an agreement between the federating units and among the people. Once you remove that document there is no federation of Pakistan,” he said.

A delegation of ANP’s women wing led by former MPA Farah Aqil shah visited the hunger strike camp and garlanded the participating lawyers.

Earlier in the morning, a delegation of lawyers visited the residence of Justice Tariq Pervez, showered him with rose petals, garlanded him and presented him bouquets.

They told the chief justice that the lawyers’ community considered him the real chief justice and it would continue its struggle till the restoration of all the deposed judges.