August 15, 2008	Friday	Sha'aban 12, 1429

ISLAMABAD, Aug 14: Despite the expiry of the August 14 deadline given by the legal community for reinstatement of the deposed judges, the National Coordination Council of Lawyers is likely to adopt a soft stand on the issue at its meeting here on Friday because of the process of impeaching the president initiated by the ruling coalition.

The All Pakistan Lawyers Convention had set the deadline for the reinstatement of the judges sent home by President Pervez Musharraf when he proclaimed emergency as army chief on November 3 last year. The convention had warned the government to either reinstate the deposed judges or face a movement.

“Though the meeting will be presided over jointly by Supreme Court Bar Association president Aitzaz Ahsan and Pakistan Bar Council vice-chairman Haji Saiyed Rehman, the council may come up with only asking bar associations in the country to stage two-hour sit-ins on main roads on different days of the week,” an informed source told Dawn. However, he said, hard-hitting speeches could be made at the meeting.

It is believed that lawyers in general want to wait for the outcome of the impeachment process, especially after the adoption of resolutions against the president by three provincial assemblies. The source said that the leaders were earlier considering to adopt a harsh line such as locking the courtrooms of different high courts.

In compliance with earlier decisions, the lawyers have continued their protest with day-long boycott on Thursdays and one hour’s boycott of PCO judges every day, respectively. Two-hour hunger strike is also included in the protest.

Scheduled for 3pm at the High Court Bar Association Rawalpindi, the meeting is likely to be attended by lawyers who have been in the forefront of the movement, including chairman of the PBC’s executive committee Rasheed A. Razvi, Munir A. Malik, Tariq Mehmood, Ali Ahmed Kurd, Hamid Khan and presidents of provincial bar associations.

Interestingly, the meeting is being held despite last Saturday’s clear stance by the Pakistan Bar Council that the authority to regulate all movements of lawyers in the country vests with it and no subservient body even the SCBA can defy the mother organisations, go solo or issue derogatory statement.