May 10, 2008	Saturday	Jamadi-ul-Awwal 4, 1429

LAHORE, May 9: Justice Khwaja Mohammad Sharif, the senior-most judge of the Lahore High Court (LHC) after the then chief justice when he was deposed under the Nov 3 Provisional Constitution Order (PCO), says the ruling coalition may not honour its word on the restoration of judges.

He was talking to a group of lawyers which called upon him to apprise him of its effort to collect signatures of lawyers from across the country in favour of the restoration of deposed judges.

Supreme Court Bar Association Vice-President Ghulam Nabi Bhatti led the delegation consisting of Punjab Bar Council Executive Committee Chairman Syed Intikhab Husain Shah, SCBA Executive Committee Members Khwaja Tariq Sohail and Rana Farman Ali Sabir, SCBA media adviser Azhar Siddique and others.

Justice Sharif said some people were playing what he called “a dirty game” with the cause of judges for their own vested interests. He said Prime Minister Yusuf Raza Gilani had twice stated that the people had voted them to power for the cause of judges and independence of media.

“How can the parties deviate from their commitment made to the people,” Justice Sharif asked. If the judges were not restored, there would be a revolution and he would be a part of the revolution, he said.

He said nobody could set aside the Nov 3 decision of the seven Supreme Court judges, under which the imposition of the state of emergency was quashed summarily and the verdict was binding on every institution of the state and individual.

On a question regarding working with judges who took oath under the PCO on Nov 3 and afterwards, he said it was subject to the decision of Chief Justice of Pakistan Iftikhar Mohammad Chaudhry and his fellow judges.

The judge appreciated the efforts of lawyers, civil society, students and political workers for the movement of restoration of the judiciary. He lauded Advocate Sikander Javed for starting his movement to solicit signatures from the lawyers all over the country.

Judge’s son Khwaja Bilal and son-in-law Azhar Hameed advocates also singed the register, which contains signatures of around 25,000 lawyers.

Advocate Bhatti said political parties were bound to fulfil the promise they made to the people before going to the Feb 18 elections.

Advocate Siddique corroborated the SCBA vice-president, and said both the political parties were duty-bound to fulfil the promise they made in the Charter of Democracy and Murree Declaration.