ISLAMABAD, Nov 17: Athar Minallah, a lawyer who was on the forefront in the struggle for the reinstatement of Chief Justice Iftikhar Mohammad Chaudhry, on Saturday requested the American Embassy to arrange a meeting of the members of the Supreme Court Bar Association and the Pakistan Bar Council with US Deputy Secretary of State John Negroponte.

“Now that it is no more a secret that John Negroponte is deeply involved in the domestic and internal matters of Pakistan and is scheduled to meet different players involved in the crisis, it would be in the interest of US and Pakistan to at least meet and hear the representatives of the SCBA and the PBC,” he said in a letter written to US Political Secretary.

Mr Minallah urged Mr Negroponte to ensure that he was aware of the facts before formulating future US policy on Pakistan.

The letter stated that the draconian Nov 3 proclamation of emergency targeted two segments of the society: the legal fraternity and the media with the sole purpose of attacking and annihilating the independence of the judiciary.

The letter termed it unfortunate that the very forces which were determined to fight extremism and terrorism had become victims of the war on terror.

It said that committed people like Barrister Aitzaz Ahsan, Muneer A. Malik, Ali Ahmed Kurd, Tariq Mehmud and thousands of others remained incarcerated, harassed and tortured.