January 05, 2008	Saturday	Zilhaj 25, 1428

PESHAWAR, Jan 4: Lawyers on Friday called upon the government to set Aitzaz Ahsan, Ali Ahmad Kurd and Justice (retd) Tariq Mehmood free within 72 hours after which, they said, they would be taking extreme measures.

At a joint general body meeting of the Peshawar High Court Bar Association and the Peshawar District Bar Association a resolution was unanimously adopted which condemned the continued detention of the deposed chief justice, Iftikhar Mohammad Chaudhry, and other judges and lawyers.

The meeting, presided over by PHCBA president Abdul Lateef Afridi, demanded that restrictions placed on the movement of judges should be lifted immediately.

Lawyers completely boycotted the high court proceedings. The meeting condemned the government for extending the detention of Aitzaz Ahsan and termed it illegal and unconstitutional.

Lawyers also took out a procession which started from PHC and ended at the Sessions Courts.

They displayed on the high court premises huge portraits of Justice Iftikhar Chaudhry and three deposed Supreme Court judges from the NWFP — Justice Sardar Raza Khan, Justice Main Shakirullah Jan and Justice Nasirul Mulk — and that of PHC’s deposed chief justice Tariq Pervez Khan and three other judges, Justice Shahjehan Khan, Justice Ijaz Afzal and Justice Dost Muhammad.

Earlier, the meeting was addressed by Abdul Lateef Afridi, Sattar Khan, Mian Abdul Fayyaz, Qaiser Rasheed and others.

They said they had no personal interest attached to the ongoing lawyers’ movement and they had only been struggling for the independence of the judiciary. They said an independent judiciary was vital for restoration of real democracy and development in the country.

The meeting resolved to continue their struggle till the establishment of an independent judiciary and restoration of the deposed judges.