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

HYDERABAD, May 8: Lawyers in Hyderabad and Nawabshah held general body meetings and rallies after boycotting courts on Thursday to press the government for reinstating all the deposed judges of the superior court.

Hyderabad lawyers held a general body meeting and brought out a rally from the Civil Court premises wearing black armbands and raising slogans against President Musharraf. The rally terminated in a sit-in at Old Campus roundabout.

The president of the Hyderabad District Bar Association (HDBA) Chaudhry Bashir Gujjar, vice-president Abdul Khaliq Leghari and joint secretary of the High Court Bar Association (HCBA) Ayaz Tunio said that lawyers’ agitation would continue till the reinstatement of sacked judges.

They stressed that the lawyers would defeat the dictatorial forces. The generals had in fact put judges behind bars, they said.

In Nawabshah, lawyers boycotted courts’ proceedings and held a general body meeting, seeking reinstatement of all the deposed judges before May 12.

The meeting presided over by DBA President Ali Mohammed Dahiri said that the struggle for the supremacy of judiciary would bring a positive change in the society after an independent judiciary started providing justice to people.

They said that they had a lose watch on the developments on the judges’ issue and wanted to impress upon the government that they wanted restoration of judiciary to Nov 2 position by May 12.

They warned if judges were not restored by the deadline, the lawyers would stage a rally the same day and follow the calls of Pakistan Bar Council.

PROTEST: The central executive committee of the Sindh Taraqqi Pasand Party resolved on Thursday to observe protest day across the province on May 12 in protest against the killing of 48 innocent people in Karachi on the visit of Chief Justice of Pakistan Iftikhar Mohammad Choudhry.

The meeting chaired by Dr Qadir Magsi decided that rallies would be staged across the province and party activists would wear black armbands, to remind the coalition government parties of their promise to hold a high level inquiry into May 12 carnage.

The meeting condemned delay in the restoration of deposed judges and demanded that they should be restored without delay. The meeting also demanded high-level inquiry into the bloody incidents of Nishtar Park, Oct 18 and Dec 27 tragedies.

The meeting called for an impartial inquiry into the fire incident in Sindh revenue office and target-killing of Abdullah Murad Baloch and others. Dr Qadir Magsi deplored post-election policies of PPP.