KARACHI, Nov 29: On the call of the Pakistan Bar Council, lawyers observed a complete boycott at the City Courts and the Malir District Courts on Thursday in protest against the oath taken by Pervez Musharraf as a civilian president.
No cases were heard since lawyers refused to attend court proceedings. While the judges remained in their chambers, the 427 undertrial prisoners who had been brought to the City Courts were taken back to various prisons without having been produced in court.
Meanwhile, the Karachi Bar Association (KBA) urged all political parties, particularly those in the opposition, to boycott the upcoming general elections and join the struggle for an independent judiciary, the rule of law and the supremacy of the constitution.
At a KBA general body meeting held at the City Courts’ Shuhada-i-Punjab Hall, KBA general secretary Naeem Qureshi urged lawyers who filed nomination papers for the Jan 8 elections to withdraw their papers since there could be no concept of free, fair and transparent elections under emergency rule and with Mr Musharraf as president. He was of the view that the elections would be pre-rigged and the participation of political parties was meant to legitimise the polls.
A resolution moved on the occasion condemned the amendments to the Legal Practitioners and Bar Councils Act, 1973, the imposition of emergency rule, the ousting of the chief justice and other judges, and the curbs placed on the media. All lawyers, including Supreme Court Bar Association president Aitzaz Ashan, were asked to withdraw their nomination papers and boycott the general elections.
Oath ‘unconstitutional’
Vowing to continue the struggle, KBA president Iftikhar Javed Qazi said that President Musharraf’s taking of oath was unconstitutional. He informed the gathered lawyers that the KBA elections for 2008 would be held on time and asked attendees to elect such people as were capable of leading from the frontlines and taking their struggle towards a successful conclusion.
The meeting was also addressed by Naheed Afzal, Sufi Muzaffar, Nazir Tanoli and Abdul Waheed, who vowed to continue their struggle against the promulgation of the Provisional Constitution Order.
It was decided that the one-hour boycott of court proceedings will continue every day and that the KBA will set up a hunger strike camp today (Friday).
Meanwhile, on the call of the PBC, an 11-member KBA delegation will leave for Islamabad on Friday to participate in an assembly outside the Judges’ Colony on Nov 30 and Dec 1. The purpose of the gathering is to resist the eviction of deposed chief justice Iftikhar Mohammed Chaudhry and other deposed judges of the Supreme Court from their official residences.
The association also sent an invitation letter to Nawaz Sharif, the leader of the PML-N and a former prime minister, to address the bar. Answering a question, KBA general secretary Naeem Qureshi said that “we hope the PML-N will not take part in the Jan 8 general elections.”
