May 09, 2008	Friday	Jamadi-ul-Awwal 3, 1429

KARACHI, May 8: The legal fraternity has decided to observe May 12 as a day of protest and accused the government of resorting to delaying tactics in the restoration of deposed judges.

This was decided in a general body meeting of the Sindh High Court Bar Association (SHCBA), which among others was addressed by its president retired justice Rasheed A. Razvi, retired justice and former SHCBA president, Abul Inam, and Salahuddin Gandapur.

The SCHBA president said that the decision to observe May 12 as a black day was earlier put on hold because it was hoped that the deposed judges would soon be restored to their pre-Nov 2 position.

“But now we see that the major stakeholders in the ruling coalition are resorting to delaying tactics and they have not shown their respect for the supremacy of the parliament in this regard,” said Mr Razvi.

The SHCBA chief said that prior to assuming power these political parties were pleading for the supremacy of the parliament and accusing the previous dispensation of making the legislature a rubber stamp.

“But after getting elected, they have shown little respect for that because so far no decision has been taken after a debate in the parliament, be it the issue of the restoration of judges or any other matter”, he deplored.

He said that the lawyers’ community considered the parliament to be sovereign and respected that institution as such, but those who had been elected must prove that point through their actions.

Justice Razvi regretted that instead of discussing the issue of restoration of judges in the parliament it was being decided either at the Zardari House or in Model Town, or by the committee, which met outside the parliament. “It is unfortunate that these parties themselves have taken such a course of action despite their strong criticism of Pervez Musharraf for resorting to such tactics in the past”, he said.

Referring to the meeting of the judges committee held on May 7, he said that three draft resolutions had been prepared on the occasion. One of them, he said, had been prepared by the president of the Supreme Court Bar Association, Barrister Aitzaz Ahsan, while the other two had been prepared by the Pakistan People’s Party (PPP) and the Pakistan Muslim League (Nawaz).

Justice Razvi accused the constitutional expert, Abdul Hafeez Pirzada, also reputed to be a co-author of the 1973 constitution, of resorting to delaying tactics in the restoration of judges. He demanded that the deposed judges should be restored through a constitutional amendment instead of any resolution.

He said that if the judges were not restored then the Pakistan Bar Council would decide the future course of action at its convention scheduled to be held later this month in Lahore.

The former SHCBA president, Abul Inam, said that the future course of action should be decided by the SHCBA before May 12 so that the same could be endorsed by the Pakistan Bar Council convention on May 17 in Lahore.

Mr Salahuddin Gandapur was critical of the rapprochement in Sindh and said it was tantamount to ignoring the sacrifices of the “martyrs”. He also called upon the lawyers to remain united and to get ready to face all consequences.

May 12 has gained a special significance in the lawyers’ ongoing movement because on that day massive scale blood-letting and violence, with a questionable role of the government and some secret agencies, was allegedly allowed to prevent the deposed chief justice of Pakistan and his colleagues from coming out of the Karachi Airport and address the Bar here.

‘PCO extra-constitutional’

Former Supreme Court judge Nasir Aslam Zahid on Thursday termed the Nov 3 Provisional Constitution Order (PCO) extra-constitutional, and criticised leaders of major parties in the ruling coalition for delaying the reinstatement of deposed judges.

Speaking at the general body meeing of the Karachi Bar Association on the City Courts premises on Thursday, Justice Zahid said the judges could be reinstated through a parliamentary resolution after issuance of an executive order by the prime minister’s office.

Regarding implementation of the executive order, he said it would be much easier than postponing the by-election, pointing out that Adviser to the Prime Minister on Interior Rehman Malik had postponed the by-election through a single telephone call.

Justice Zahid also ruled out the possibility of appointment of PCO judges on an ad-hoc basis, arguing that only serving high court judges or retired Supreme Court judges could be appointed as ad-hoc judges of the apex court.

He said the Nov 3 PCO was extra-constitutional because it was implemented by Gen Pervez Musharraf in his capacity as the chief of army staff who had himself validated the order by amending the Article 270 of the Constitution. He said the Nov 3 order could be validated only by the parliament with a two-thirds majority. “In fact the Nov 3 order had suspended the Constitution and there is no provision in the Constitution for such an order,” he added.

The general resorted to amending the Constitution to provide legal cover to his unconstitutional order and asked judges to endorse it despite the fact that a seven-member bench of the Supreme Court on the same day had overturned the PCO asking the judges not to take an oath under the PCO or follow any other extra-constitutional step, Justice Zahid recalled.

KBA president Mahmoodul Hasan said that the series of meetings and setting up of committees on the issue of judges’ reinstatement were nothing but delaying tactics. He rejected the ruling coalition’s idea of retaining those judges who had taken oath under the PCO, and said that there would be no room for these judges once the judiciary was restored to its Nov 2 position.

The legal fraternity would resume its movement if its demands were not met, he warned.

Meanwhile, legal proceedings remained suspended at the City Courts and the Malir District Courts on Thursday as lawyers boycotted the court proceedings in response to the Pakistan Bar Council call for the weekly protest on Thursdays against ousting of judges under the PCO.

Although the under-trial prisoners were brought to the City Courts police lockup, their cases could not be heard due to the boycott.