September 04, 2008	Thursday	Ramazan 3, 1429

RAWALPINDI, Sept 3: While the lawyers of Rawalpindi Bar prepare to hold a protest demonstration in front of Parliament House on Thursday as per announcement of the national lawyers’ coordination committee, some of their representatives call it an attempt to weaken the elected government.

Lawyers at the district courts on Wednesday held a protest rally and blocked the Katchery Chowk for some time. The protesters raised slogans for the early restoration of all deposed judges including Iftikhar Mohammad Chaudhry.

Led by President Lahore High Court Bar Association Rawalpindi Sardar Asmatullah and Siddique Awan, the lawyers chanted slogans against the Pakistan People’s Party government for backing out of its pledge to restore the deposed judges. They also criticised those judges who have returned after refusing to take oath under the provisional constitution order (PCO).

The lawyers said they would follow the decision of the action committee and participate in the protest rally in front of the Parliament House to press the government for the early restoration of the judges.

Senior lawyer Chaudhry Toufiq Asif said the lawyers of Rawalpindi were united in their resolve to fight for the just cause of return of the pre-November 3 judiciary and efforts to split them would fail.

In a related development, vice-president LHCBA Raja Babar and general secretary RBA Sajid Tanoli in a press release on the bar letterhead criticised the lawyers for announcing to hold protest in front of Parliament House and termed it an attempt to take on the elected government.

They said the lawyers would not abide by the decision of a committee made by some lawyers parallel to the Pakistan Bar Council and the provincial bar councils.