LAHORE, April 17: Deposed Supreme Court judge Rana Bhagwandas said on Thursday parliament did not want to provide protection to the measures President Pervez Musharraf took after imposing emergency on Nov 3, 2007.

He said this while addressing Lahore High Court Bar Association (LHCBA) lawyers. The day was marked as ‘Karachi Shuhada Day’ to mourn the killing of lawyers and citizens on April 9 in Karachi. Lawyers gave him a rousing welcome amid chants of ‘Bhagwandas terey Jan Nisar, Baishumar Baishumar’.

Justice Bhagwandas said the Supreme Court’s verdict that validated the Nov 3 emergency was nothing short of a joke when Musharraf had himself admitted in an interview with the BBC that his Nov 3 step was unconstitutional.

On Nov 3, Musharraf imposed emergency in the country and sacked all Supreme Court and high courts’ judges. Since then, lawyers have launched a countrywide movement for the restoration of pre-Nov-3 judiciary.

He said lawyers’ struggle would bear fruits and parliament, which resolved to restore the judges, would keep its words.

“(Deposed) judges will return to their offices and also draw their emoluments for the time they remained out of office,” he said. He added Musharraf made everybody feel shameful after detaining the chief justice and other judges, who refused oath under the Provisional Constitution Order (PCO).

He asked lawyers and the civil society to put their heart and soul into the struggle for the rule of law and supremacy of the Constitution.

He said every ruler had hatched conspiracies to weaken the judiciary, which not only damaged the judicial system but also lawyers’ work.

He said after the restoration of (deposed) chief justice Iftikhar Mohammad Chaudhry, Musharraf dealt another ruthless blow to the judiciary after proclaiming emergency and issuing the PCO. Over 60 judges had to leave their offices because their conscience rejected working under an order imposed by a dictator.

He said people were confused why judges had refused oath under the Nov 3 PCO, when they had accepted the similar oath in 2000. In 2000, the chief justice and some judges had refused oath and left their offices after taking all retirement benefits.

He said the Nov 3 PCO only hit the judiciary, so judges not only rejected it and the pension but also stood against the regime, and reinforced the people’s conviction that they were still the legal and lawful judges.

He praised lawyers for maintaining a movement for the independence of the judiciary, the rule of the law and the supremacy of the Constitution against all odds.