January 18, 2008	Friday	Muharram 08, 1429

KARACHI, Jan 17: The Sindh High Court Bar Association urged civil society on Thursday to observe January 31 as ‘Yaum-i-Iftikhar’ to protest against the continued confinement of deposed chief justice Iftikhar Mohammad Chaudhry, 10 other judges and three Bar leaders, Chaudhry Aitzaz Ahsan, Ali Ahmed Kurd and Tariq Mahmood.

The proposal was mooted by SHCBA President Rasheed A. Razvi and endorsed by the general body meeting. Mr Razvi also urged international human rights organization Amnesty International to declare the deposed CJ a ‘prisoner of conscience’.

Addressing the meeting, Pakistan Bar Council member Mohammad Yasin Azad said the action against the judges was a violation of Article 6 of the Constitution. President Pervez Musharraf has admitted in an interview to the CNN that the action was taken to save the regime. Sindh Bar Council member Salahuddin Gandapur said the rulers were on retreat and lawyers, students, workers and other sections of civil society should intensify their struggle against the regime.

Advocates Hashim Padhiar and Adnan Ahmad, meanwhile, observed token hunger strike for two hours for the restoration of the independence of the judiciary.

Meanwhile, legal proceedings remained suspended at the City Courts and the District Courts Malir on Thursday as the lawyers stayed away from courts in response to a strike call given by the Pakistan Bar Council. They were protesting against the ousting of the judges, detention of top leaders of the PBC, amendments made to the constitution and to the Legal Practitioners and Bar Council Act, 1973, and detention of deposed Chief Justice Iftikhar Mohammad Chaudhry.

About 292 undertrial prisoners were brought to the City Courts from the different prisons of the city, but their cases could not be heard because of the lawyers’ strike and were taken back to their respective prisons. However, the judges remained present in their chambers.

Most of the stationery shops and cabins on the City Courts premises remained closed. Stamp paper vendors did open their shops, but later shuttered them due to lack of business. However, the canteens situated on the courts premises stayed open.

The lawyers demanded that the government immediately withdraw the detention orders of Justice Iftikhar Mohammad Chaudhry, president of Pakistan Bar Association Aitzaz Ahsan, Ali Ahmed Kurd and Justice (retd) Tariq Mahmood and reinstate all the deposed judges.

The demands were moved at a general body meeting of the Karachi Bar Association, held in the Shuhada-i-Punjab Hall of the City Courts.

The legal fraternity vowed to continue the ongoing struggle for the restoration of the deposed judges, independence of the judiciary, the rule of law and supremacy of the constitution.

KBA general secretary Naeem Qureshi lauded the decision of the NWFP and Balochistan bar associations to continue the complete boycott of the PCO judges and urged the lawyers and bar associations of Punjab and Sindh to follow suit.

“We are not against the Pakistan Bar Council decision, but we are giving our recommendation that we are still in favour of a complete boycott of those judges who took the oath under the Provisional Constitution Order,” he added.

He said some government-backed elements were trying to create divisions in the ranks of the legal fraternity, but the lawyers were united and would continue their struggle till the deposed judges and the independence of the judiciary were restored.

Karachi Bar Association vice president Mushtaq Ahmad Jahangiri urged the lawyers to boycott the upcoming general election and concentrate on the movement to make it successful. He said he believed that the Jan 18 election would not be fair.

He slammed the government for the unprecedented price hike of essential commodities. He also criticized the government for insulting the hero of the nation, Dr Abdul Qadeer Khan, and urged it to withdraw his detention orders.

He said the political parties had their own interests and were trying to come into power and had nothing to do with independence of the judiciary. The ongoing struggle of the lawyers is very crucial and we have to make it successful at any cost, he added.The lawyers shouted anti-government and anti-Musharraf slogans.

Meanwhile, Malir Bar Association president Zahoor Hussain Mehar told Dawn that a complete boycott of courts was observed at Malir on Thursday.

Legal proceedings remained suspended at the Malir District Courts as the lawyers stayed away from courts in protest.

He said they were ready for a complete boycott of the PCO judges and expressed the hope that the Pakistan Bar Council would withdraw its decision to attend such courts.