December 07, 2007	Friday	Ziqa'ad 26, 1428

ISLAMABAD, Dec 6: Senator Prof Khurshid Ahmed of Jamaat-i-Islami has expressed reservations about ‘a third option’ which chief of the Supreme Court Bar Association Aitzaz Ahsan has presented in his letter to lawyers.

In a statement issued here on Thursday, the senator paid tribute to the struggle of the legal community and the judges and acknowledged the contribution and sacrifices of Barrister Ahsan, but said that the issue of restoration of judiciary was crucial to the entire process of movement towards genuine democracy.

How could election held under the shadow of a regime and a judiciary that lacked legitimacy and confidence of the people be fair and how could their products be expected to reinstate the higher judiciary?”, he asked.

“Elections must be held but they must only be held under a framework of complete restoration of the Constitution and judiciary and organised by a truly independent neutral election commission under an impartial interim government,” he said.

Without that, the elections would be a farce and a means to extend the rule of the usurpers and destroyers of the Constitution and the judiciary, he said.

He pleaded that the only target to be pursued before the elections should be restoration of the Constitution and the higher judiciary.