February 16, 2008	Saturday	Safar 08, 1429

LAHORE, Feb 15: Supreme Court Bar Association President Aitzaz Ahsan on Friday bemoaned the disarray in the state of affairs and expressed his hope “the ongoing war against the alliance of the civil and military bureaucracy will succeed”.

In a recorded video message relayed on the Lahore High Court Bar Association (LBA) premises, Ahsan said: “The Quaid-i-Azam dreamt of equal opportunities for everyone, but the alliance of the civil and military bureaucracy since 1958 turned the country into a security state, where a class thrived at the cost of the integrity of the state.” He said the USSR disintegrated because a specific class had usurped people’s rights.

In a poem written during his prolonged detention and also relayed on the occasion, Ahsan underlined the woes of the poor in particular and the Muslims in general all over the world.

He said democracy would remain a dream without an independent judiciary —Reporter