December 06, 2007	Thursday	Ziqa'ad 25, 1428

LAHORE, Dec 5: Civil society activists, lawyers and students will come together on Dec 10, international human rights day, to form a human chain around the Lahore High Court and demand restoration of the judiciary to pre-November 3 status.

During a meeting, Advocate Khurram Latif Khosa, Secretary of the Campaign for Democracy and Rule of law in Pakistan (CDRLP), said: “We will be holding a demonstration outside the Lahore High court to show the world this is the grossest violation of human rights imaginable.”

Groups to be involved in the demonstration include representatives of various political parties (PPP, PML-N, PTI, Jaamat-i-Islami), the Student Action Committee (SAC) and lawyers and civil society organisations.

The exact nature of the event would be decided at a later date in order to keep police and intelligence agencies guessing, he said.

Khosa added: “This was a positive debate in the sense that we brought everyone together and they recognised the need for further dialogue, as well as broadly agreeing on the points mentioned in our charter.”

The nine-point charter states that a democratic transition and free and fair elections are not possible under a government headed by Gen Pervez Musharraf (retired) in any capacity and that he must resign, that the judiciary must be restored, all curbs on media must end, all detainees must be released, amendments made to the 1952 Army Act must be reversed, and independent and credible election commission be constituted, the spread of violence by non-state actors across the country must be effectively countered through all possible means within the ambit of the law and that an independent commission be formed to investigate widespread incidences of disappearances, torture and arbitrary detentions during the Musharraf period.

The participants further demanded an interim government of national reconciliation.

Those present at the meeting included Sardar Latif Khosa of the PPP, Amir-ul-Azeem of Jamaat-i-Islami, Khwaja Saad Rafique of the PML-N, Abid Hassan Manto of the Awami Jamhoori Party, Ehsan Wyne of the ANP, Ahmed Awais of the PTI, Farrukh Talit of the Labour Party, Sarfraz Cheema of the Lahore High Court Bar Association, Arif Hameed Bhatti, President of the Punjab Union of Journalists, Khawar Mumtaz of the Women Action Forum, as well as activists Asma Jehangir.