November 18, 2007	Sunday	Ziqa’ad 07, 1428

RAWALPINDI, Nov 17: Police arrested two more lawyers amid continued protest and strike on Saturday against the imposition of emergency and removal of superior court judges and arrests of their comrades.

The police arrested Rawalpindi District Bar Association (DBA) secretary, Shehbaz Rajput, and Advocate Taufique Asif, under the 3 PCO and detained them for a month.

The protests of the lawyers of the twin cities of Islamabad and Rawalpindi entered 13th day.

Lawyers in Rawalpindi held protest and hunger strike at the city courts. More than 500 lawyers marched around the courts and chanted anti-government slogans.

They also observed token hunger strike for two hours and vowed to continue their struggle for the rule of law in the country, independence of judiciary.

They also boycotted the courts’ proceedings for an hour.

Addressing the protesting lawyers, vice-president of the Supreme Court Bar Association (SCBA), Chaudhry Muhammad Ikram, urged his colleagues to stand by their decision not to be present before the judges who had taken oath under the PCO.

He demanded immediate reinstatement of deposed judges of the Supreme Court and restoration of the constitution. He condemned large scale arrests of the lawyers and civil society members and called for their immediate release.

Meanwhile the Islamabad Bar Association (IBA) has decided to continue with their protest campaign during the next week.

This weekend marked completion of two weeks of protests by the legal practitioners, who are committed to carrying forward their movement till the withdrawal of emergency and reinstatement of deposed judges of the Supreme Court and high courts, senior lawyers said.

During the first week of emergency rule - November 5 to 10 - the black coats observed a complete boycott of courts and regularly staged protest rallies.

In the second week, the court work recommenced but remained suspended for three hours each day as the lawyers observed hour- long hunger strikes and held two-hour protest rallies. During the protest period, the court complex echoed with anti-government and anti-Musharraf slogans.

Meanwhile, the Saturday’s protest was one of the largest in the current week, as more than 1,000 lawyers participated in it.

Earlier, a group of 12 lawyers observed hunger strike in front of the Islamabad Bar Association’s office from 11am to 12 noon.

Later, the lawyers holding placards inscribed with anti- government slogans marched in and around the district courts and the offices of the capital administration and police.

A heavy contingent of Islamabad police, Punjab Constabulary and Elite Force was also present around the courts to prevent the protest from spreading into nearby areas of F-8 Markaz.