August 16, 2008	Saturday	Sha'aban 13, 1429

RAWALPINDI, Aug 15: Lawyers on Friday set another deadline, of Sept 15, for the reinstatement of judges after the date set earlier passed unnoticed on Thursday.

Their leaders expressed hope that the government would honour its declaration of Aug 8 about restoration of the pre-Nov 3 judiciary immediately after impeachment of President Pervez Musharraf.

The foremost demand of the legal fraternity had been the return of the deposed judges, but at the same time it was the lawyers who had first chanted the slogan ‘Go, Musharraf go’, Supreme Court Bar Association (SCBA) president Chaudhry Aitzaz Ahsan said at a press conference after a meeting of the National Coordination Council (NCC).

He said the lawyers had expressed disappointment over the expiry of the Aug 14 deadline without reinstatement of judges and warned that if the Islamabad declaration went the way of the Murree agreement, they would feel free to adopt any course of action.

He said the speed with which the four provincial assemblies had passed resolutions urging President Musharraf to seek a vote of confidence showed the resolve of the coalition government.

A resolution adopted by the NCC said: “Restoration of the judiciary is not in conflict with impeachment and the judiciary of Nov 2, 2007, should be restored before or during the process of impeachment.”

The meeting was attended, among others, by former SCBA chief Tariq Mehmood, Pakistan Bar Council member Hamid Ali Khan, Sindh High Court Bar Association’s president Rasheed A. Razvi, Peshawar High Court Bar Association’s chief Latif Khan Afridi and representatives of the four provincial bar councils.

It was announced that the legal community would stage sits-in in all cities and the movement could end up in civil disobedience if judges were not reinstated by Sept 15 or three days after the completion of impeachment proceedings.

The lawyers decided to continue their daily boycott of courts for an hour, weekly boycott of PCO judges on Thursdays and two-hour token hunger strike every day.

The SCBA chief said the meeting noted the expressions in the Aug 8 declaration ‘all the judges,’ ‘strictly in accordance with the Murree Declaration’ and ‘immediately after the impeachment of the president’ regarding the reinstatement were significant and a clear expression of intent.

The meeting opposed granting of a ‘safe passage’ or indemnity to Gen (retd) Musharraf. Indemnity to a man who arrested 60 judges of the superior courts and detained many of them, among them the chief justice of Pakistan, would be a bad precedent, the lawyers’ representatives said.

In reply to a question, the SCBA president said the lawyers would resist any move by the presidency to dissolve the assemblies and would stand by the democratic forces in their struggle against dictatorship.

Chaudhry Aitzaz handed over to the president of the High Court Bar Association, Rawalpindi, Sardar Asmatullah, a shield given by the American Bar to Pakistani lawyers in recognition of their efforts for the supremacy of the Constitution.

The meeting decided to support and provide all assistance to the SCBA in organising an international jurists’ conference in Islamabad from Oct 9 to Oct 12.

The lawyers also said they would help organise (deposed) Chief Justice Iftikhar Mohammad Chaudhry’s visit to the United States on an invitation by the Harvard University.