June 01, 2008	Sunday	Jamadi-ul-Awwal 26, 1429

LAHORE, May 31: The Punjab chapter of the Pakistan Lawyers Forum, the lawyers’ wing of the PPP, on Saturday vowed to resist what they called conspiracies against democracy in the name of hurrying the restoration of the judges.

At a convention held here at the Karachi Shuhada Hall of the Lahore High Court Bar Association, the participants vowed to stand by PPP co-chairperson Asif Ali Zardari and chanted slogans, ‘jiaye jiaye, Bhutto jiaye’.

Punjab PLF convener Mian Jehangir, vice-president Mian Hanif Tahir, senior vice-president Sardar Khurram Latif Khosa, Jehangir Badr, senior minister Raja Riaz, Raja Shafqat Abbasi, Ghulam Abbas and presidents of the forum from across the province attended the convention.

Speaking on the occasion, PPP leader Jehangir Badr said the PPP did not need a certificate for being democratic from those who had been hand in glove with the dictators and were now hatching conspiracies against the government.

He said when chief justice Iftikhar Mohammad Chaudhry was deposed, Benazir Bhutto had directed him on the phone to get in touch with the PLF for waging a struggle for saving the institution.

He said Mr Zardari had told people of Noudero not to allow his burial there if he failed to change the system.

He said the party had been making efforts for the supremacy of the parliament and the independence of the judiciary as part of its agenda to change the system.

Layyah PLF president Yousuf Raza said the PPP could not restore the judges through an executive order because a law was needed to do the task.

PLF representative from Peshawar, Khurshid Khan, said he had asked the forum about the justification to hold the convention on the day when Iftikhar Mohammad Chaudhry had been visiting the city. He added he found that the reason was not a deliberate attempt and decided to attend the convention in Lahore and return to Peshawar the same day for the reception of the deposed chief justice.

Liaquat Ali Randhawa from Rahim Yar Khan said the PPP believed in restoring the judiciary despite the fact that the judges had always shown it the door and handed down the most controversial decision on the hanging of Zulfiqar Ali Bhutto.