LAHORE, Dec 1: Supreme Court Bar Association former president Aitzaz Ahsan has said the government should increase stocks of oil, wheat and rice in view of the prevailing tension between India and Pakistan over Mumbai carnage.

Flanked by LHCBA President Anwar Kamal and SCBA Secretary Shaukat Umer Pirzada at a hurriedly called press conference on Monday, Mr Ahsan said the people should be made aware of civil defense and all money deposited with foreign banks brought back.

To a question about President Asif Ali Zardari’s wealth abroad, he said: “I am not aware of his foreign accounts. It is a suggestion for everyone; I am not excluding anybody.”

Mr Ahsan also asked the government to restore what he called independent and brave judges to elevate Pakistan’s image in the world and secure foreign investment.

He has proposed these measures in the wake of the prime minister’s invitation to him to participate in the All Parties Conference (APC) being held on Tuesday (today).

Mr Ahsan said he had decided not to attend the APC since the PM’s military secretary, who extended the invitation, did not make it clear if he was invited in his personal capacity or as lawyers’ representative. He added if latter was the case, SCBA incumbent President Ali Ahmad Kurd should have been invited.

Mr Ahsan said the lawyers would not discontinue their weekly protest, which included rallies and boycott of court proceedings. However, he unequivocally said: “Lawyers all over the country are with the nation and the armed forces to frustrate the aggressive designs of the enemy.”

He said so far as the national security was concerned, the lawyers held supreme the survival and defence of the country. Aitzaz said India and Pakistan must adopt peaceful means to resolve mutual misunderstandings instead of going to war for that would push both the countries decades back.

To a question on operation in tribal areas, he said, securing country’s eastern border should be the priority.

He demanded the government should cut unnecessary expenditure and show austerity and a spirit of sacrifice for the whole nation to follow.

Expressing his concern at the Karachi riots, he asked the administration to immediately take strict measures to arrest such acts. In the same vein he termed the victory of Rashid A Rizvi as Karachi Bar Association president in the face of opposition from all political parties, a vindication of lawyers’ stand on the restoration of Justice Iftikhar Muhammad Chaudhry.