August 30, 2008	Saturday	Sha'aban 27, 1429

ISLAMABAD, Aug 29: A coordination committee of the Pakistan Bar Council (PBC) on Friday expressed satisfaction over the return of eight judges to the Sindh High Court (SHC) by taking a fresh oath and called it a “partial success of the lawyers’ movement” although leaders of the movement have rejected the method adopted for reinstatement of the deposed judges.

“We are not taking any view contrary to what the legal fraternity holds on the appointment of judges in the SHC,” former PBC vice-chairman Mirza Aziz Akbar Baig told Dawn.

He said the future strategy would be devised in consultation with all the representative bodies in the best interest of the country.

Recently, a group of lawyers led by Supreme Court Bar Association’s chief Barrister Aitzaz Ahsan had launched a National Coordination Commi-ttee (NCC) in defiance of PBC’s decision to take control of the campaign and over its alleged deviation from the struggle for independence of the judiciary.

The NCC has declared that the oath taken by the eight judges is a betrayal of the movement for restoration of the judiciary.

The PBC coordination committee, at a meeting presided over by Pervaiz Inayat Malik, called a joint meeting of the provincial bar councils and members of PBC on Sept 12 to review the situation and chalk out a course of action for the lawyers’ movement.

Mr Baig said he was confident that Justice Iftikhar Mohammad Chaudhry would be reinstated as the chief justice. He said he believed that the government would not consider any ‘minus-one formula’.

The committee vowed that the lawyers’ movement would continue till reinstatement of all judges sacked by former president Pervez Musharraf.

Chaudhry Mohammad Ashraf Wahlah and Mohammad Ramzan Chaudhry also attended the meeting.