May 13, 2008	Tuesday	Jamadi-ul-Awwal 7, 1429

HYDERABAD, May 12: The failure of coalition partners’ talks on judges’ reinstatement appeared to have failed to break or even dampen the lawyers’ spirit as they started afresh their struggle on Monday by staging courts boycott and holding rallies to press the government to restore judiciary to its pre-Nov 3 position.

Lawyers across the province held rallies and general body meetings and raised black flags on bar rooms to express their resolve that they would not budge on the reinstatement of judges.

In Hyderabad, they held a general body meeting in civil courts bar room, which was addressed by the president of High Court Bar Association (HCBA), Hyderabad chapter, Abdul Sattar Kazi, president of Hyderabad District Bar Association (HDBA) Chaudhry Bashir Gujjar and former secretary Noorul Haque Qureshi.

They condemned massacre of innocent people on the very day when the deposed Chief Justice Iftikhar Mohammad Chaudhry had arrived at Karachi airport to attend golden jubilee celebrations of Sindh High Court (SHC), and demanded arrests of murderers.

The delay in judges’ reinstatement has dented their hopes but not broken their spirit and they are as determined as they were at the start of the struggle.

“Certainly, the non-restoration of judiciary to its pre-Nov 3 position has disappointed us but we have not lost heart and we will continue struggle with the same zeal. We believe that PPP will face pressurse not only from people but also from within the party leaders and workers to reinstate judges,” Abdul Sattar Kazi told Dawn.

“Lawyers affiliated with PPP are still with us despite the fact that their party has not come up to our expectations. It also doesn’t matter that one of senior colleagues Allah Bachayo Soomro, a PPP diehard, has been appointed as Additional AG Sindh,” he remarked.

Mr Soomro, the president of the Hyderabad chapter of People’s Lawyers Forum, who has been in the forefront of lawyers’ struggle has recently been appointed AAG Sindh.

He has been quite vocal over judges issue and conducted protest-gatherings in the city in honour of deposed SHC judges and CJP Iftikhar Mohammad Chaudhry on April 15, 2007.

Though he is not supposed to take part in any rally after holding the government job, Mr Soomro said he was likely to attend the meeting a Pakistan Bar Council meeting on May 17 in Lahore, which might turn up pace of the struggle for the reinstatement of judges.

“If PPP didn’t reinstate the judges the party will lose credibility and I hope that better sense will prevail and the party will restore judiciary to its pre-Nov 3 position. Maybe, deposed Chief Justice is restored till 2010 and then Mr Justice Abdul Hameed Dogar once again becomes CJP till 2011,” he opined.

Raising slogans of “Go Musharraf Go” and “Iftikhar Mohammad Choudhry Ko Bahal Karo”, the lawyers staged a rally, which marched on different roads before terminating at the press club.

The HDBA secretary Nisar Durrani also condemned ban on TV channels and said that the lawyers would stand by media. Such tactics indicated that it was a continuation of the past government, he said.

In Sukkur, Mirpurkhas and Umerkot, Shikarpur, Naushahro Feroze, Moro, Bhirya, Kandiaro, Sanghar, Khipro, Tando Adam, Shahdadpur, Khairpur, Nawabshah, Dadu, Mehar, Johi, Khairpur Nathan Shah, Sehwan, Kotri and Badin lawyers boycotted courts, held general body meetings, rallies and demonstrations, demanding the government ensure independence of judiciary.