May 01, 2008	Thursday	Rabi-us-Sani 24, 1429

KARACHI, April 30: Lawyers are ready to resume their struggle to force the government to reinstate the deposed judges, Sindh High Court Bar Association President Rasheed A. Razvi told a general body meeting of the association on Wednesday.

“We are waiting for the outcome of Dubai negotiations between the principal ruling coalition partners and if they fail to reach an accord on the reinstatement of judges, we will resume our struggle. We are prepared to lay down our lives, for the struggle is an act of worship for us,” he said.

He warned the ruling political parties that while they might have a vote bank, the legal fraternity had the street power. The lawyers would demolish all obstructions to achieve their lofty objective, he said.

Talking to newsmen later, Mr Razvi said the lawyers had no political agenda and were fighting only for the rule of law. Bar leaders affiliated with political parties were lawyers first. It was because of the Bar decision that Aitzaz Ahsan withdrew his nomination papers. During the presidential referendum, when Tehrik-i-Insaf chief Imran Khan was supporting Gen Pervez Musharraf, Hamid Khan, who was vice-chairman of the Tehrik, was leading the lawyers’ campaign against the poll.

Mr Razvi claimed that a National Assembly resolution was sufficient to reinstate the judges as the Supreme Court decision declaring their removal as ‘past and closed chapter’ had no legal validity.