KARACHI, March 4: The president of the Sindh High Court Bar Association (SHCBA), Rasheed A. Rizvi, on Tuesday urged members of civil society, non-governmental organisations and political parties to take part in the “Black-flag week”, to be observed from March 9 to 16. The event has been organised on the call of the Pakistan Bar Council to mark the first anniversary of the removal of the chief justice of Pakistan, Iftikhar Mohammad Chaudhry.

Mr Rizvi was speaking at a joint press conference of the Sindh High Court Bar Association, Karachi and Malir bar associations here at the Karachi Press Club. KBA president Mahmoodul Hasan, the president of the Karachi Union of Journalists, Khursheed Tanveer, and Uzma Noorani were also present.

The SHCBA president said that the ongoing struggle of the legal fraternity for the restoration of the pre-PCO judiciary, the rule of law, supremacy of the constitution and the independence of the judiciary had entered the final phase and would continue till the achievement of the goals, he said.

Speaking about the withdrawal of the long march call, Mr Rizvi said that lawyers wanted to give some time to the new government to fulfil their demands.

He, however, said that the decision regarding the new date for the long march would be taken at the lawyers’ convention scheduled to be held in Lahore on March 15.

He warned that if the new government failed to meet the lawyers’ demands, then the ongoing struggle would continue against the new government as well. The bar associations would stage rallies and organise programmes across the country, which would be addressed by the deposed judges and other senior lawyers, the SHCBA office-bearer said.

The KBA chief, Mahmoodul Hasan, strongly condemned the bomb blasts in Lahore and alleged that the pro-US polices of the present government were the main cause of lawlessness in the country.