LAHORE, Dec 20: Supreme Court Bar Association (SCBA) president Barrister Aitzaz Ahsan has said that bar associations will give the new parliament the end of January deadline to restore the superior judiciary.

“Early February, the bar (associations) will start inviting judges. Lawyers will serve as a lifeline (in the drive for restoration of judges) and people will pour out from every nook and cranny of the country to welcome the judges,” Barrister Ahsan said on Thursday in his address at a protest camp at the Lahore Press Club.

Ruling out any compromise on the issue of restoration of judiciary to its pre-emergency state, Barrister Ahsan said that no individual had the right to make any amendments to the Constitution and changes could be made only by parliament under Articles 238 and 239.

He said the lawyers’ movement had remained peaceful, but it was unfortunate that they had been beaten up in Lahore, boiling oil was poured over them in Sahiwal and shots were fired on them in Islamabad.

He said it was wrong to link the need to reverse the ‘illegal’ amendments to the Constitution with a two-third majority in parliament.

Because of the tremendous pressure, Chief of Army Staff General Ashfaq Parvez Kayani would have to withdraw the amendments made by Gen (retd) Musharraf under emergency, he added.

He said that all political parties contesting the election had clearly stated that the process reeked of foul play. The political parties would be with lawyers and endorse their stance of boycotting the election on Jan 8, he added.

“My party (the Pakistan People’s Party) has filed 500 complaints with the election Commissioner regarding poll rigging,” he said. He alleged that handpicked candidates were being favoured because Gen Musharraf desperately wanted a two-third majority in parliament.

“The Q-League will not be able to get a single seat above 30. Despondency on the faces of their workers is evident and one can see the king’s party looking for a place to hide,” he said.

Mr Ahsan said that some people had been creating an impression that he had been set free because he had requested authorities to release him.

“I want to make it clear that I had only asked them to allow me to say my Eid prayers and visit the graveyard where my forefathers rest. I did not use the word release at all,” he claimed. He said that as soon as he would be released, he would join the movement for restoration of judiciary and media.

Answering a question, Mr Ahsan said the PPP was his family and he was woven with party workers with whom he had spilled blood during party campaigns and spent nights in jails.

Regarding PPP chairperson Benazir Bhutto’s suggestion to judges about forming their own political party, he said the judges had been addressing bar associations, an act which could not be called politics.

He said the government deliberately debased the judges who had taken oath under the Provisional Constitution Order (PCO). The only purpose of giving judges the ‘so-called oath’ under the Constitution a day after their PCO oath was to remind them that they could go if the PCO went, he added.

He also said the lawyers would have to decide whether or not they would join forces with the All Parties Democratic Alliance in their drive for restoration of judiciary.

Earlier, Barrister Aitzaz visited the deposed judges of the Lahore High Court, including Justice Khwaja Muhammad Sharif, Justice Asif Saeed Khosa, Justice Azmat Saeed, Justice M.A. Shahid Siddiqi, Justice Syed Jamshed Ali Shah, Justice Sair Ali, Justice Iqbal Hameedur Rehman. He also visited Supreme Court Judge Justice Tassadaq Hussain Jillani. He assured the judges that the movement for restoration of judiciary would continue.

Mr Ahsan also visited the Geo office and praised journalists for their courage.

Supreme Court Bar Association secretary Javed Amin Bhatti, media adviser Mohammad Azhar, advocates Mansoor Ali Shah, Saima Khwaja, Asad Jamal advocate and representatives of civil society accompanied Barrister Ahsan.