June 28, 2008	Saturday	Jamadi-us-Sani 23, 1429

ISLAMABAD, June 27: The vice-chairman of the Pakistan Bar Council, Syed Rehman, has said the lawyers’ long march for reinstatement of the deposed judges was mishandled at the end.

“I disagree to this day the way the march was terminated,” he told reporters at a press conference after negotiations with Law Minister Farooq H. Naek here on Friday.

The statement by the office-bearer of the top lawyers’ body followed repeated justifications by Supreme Court Bar Association president Aitzaz Ahsan that the decision of not staging a sit-in at the end of the march had been taken by all leaders of the legal fraternity in the best interest of their movement.

This was the first meeting between the top lawyers’ body and the government after the long march. The 10-member PBC delegation led by Mr Rehman discussed problems and reservations of the legal community with the law minister, who announced a grant of Rs50 million for the council. The grant has been in suspension since 1998. The minister officially handed over a copy of the constitutional package to the PBC representatives.

Three senior members of the PBC’s executive committee have recently rejected the proposed amendment package, saying that its approval would badly hurt the independence of judiciary.

The PBC vice-chairman said the long march had not been managed properly, adding that non-representatives had taken control of the dais and members of the PBC had been ignored towards the end of the event.

“But it should not be implied that the lawyers’ movement has come to an end,” he said, adding that an all Pakistan representatives conference in Lahore on Saturday would chalk out the strategy for the future.

The law minister said the PBC delegation had made various suggestions for the betterment and efficient working of the legal fraternity. He assured the delegation that the government was committed to reinstating the deposed judges.

“The PPP-led coalition government has ended the detention of judges, made payments of salary to the deposed judges and increased the number of Supreme Court judges,” he said, adding that a final decision on reinstatement of judges would be taken soon.