PESHAWAR, Dec 14: Lawyers on Friday urged all political parties to withdraw their nomination papers terming the election a farce. “In the absence of an independent judiciary, no free and fair elections could be conducted. Participation in the election will be a big mistake of political parties,” said Abdul Lateef Afridi, president of the Peshawar High Court Bar Association.

A joint general body meeting of the PHCBA and the Peshawar District Bar Association was held here at the high court.

The meeting was followed by a protest demonstration.

A hunger strike camp was also set up which was attended by over a dozen lawyers.

The lawyers raised slogans of “Go Musharraf go” and “Long Live Justice Iftikhar Chaudhry.”

The meeting decided to award a rousing welcome to candidates who would be withdrawing their nomination papers on Saturday as part of boycotting the election.

Abdul Lateef Afridi, Barrister Baachaa, Ms Mussarat Hilali and Abdullah Sani spoke on the occasion.

They said that the parties which boycotted the polls would always be welcome in the high court.

They said that those parties which had been participating in elections were in fact strengthening the Musharraf regime.

The speakers said that if the judges had not been restored and set free the lawyers would further intensify their movement.

Meanwhile, the NWFP Bar Council decided to hold a provincial convention on Dec 26 in the Peshawar High Court.

According to a press release, a meeting of the council was held in Mardan which took stock of the situation arising after Nov 3.

The meeting decided that the convention would be attended by the president and secretary generals of the bar associations in the province.

The committee recommended to the National Action Committee to extend the boycott of the superior court till Jan 8.

The meeting urged upon the lawyers who had filed their nomination papers to withdraw the same on Saturday.

It was recommended that medals should be given to all the lawyers who had been imprisoned during the ongoing movement.