QUETTA, March 12: The government of Sindh stopped a convoy of lawyers from Quetta led by Ali Ahmed Kurd, president of the Supreme Court Bar Association, from entering the province on Thursday night.

As a mark of protest, Mr Kurd held a sit-in on the provincial border along with long march participants and said the protest would continue till he was allowed to enter Sindh.

The convoy comprising lawyers and leaders and workers of political parties reached the border after about 12 hours’ journey via Sibi, Dera Murad Jamali and Dera Aallahyar.

After being stopped by law-enforcement personnel, Mr Kurd held a meeting with his colleagues on the highway and decided to stage the sit-in.

“We will continue our sit-in till we are allowed to enter Sindh,” he said.

He deplored the Sindh government’s decision to stop the convoy and said lawyers had announced that they would remain peaceful. “As lawyers and custodians of the law we will remain peaceful.”

Balochistan PML-N chief Sardar Yaqoob Khan Nasar, general secretary Ayaz Khan Swati, Balochistan Bar Council president Hadi Shakeel Ahmed, Balochistan Bar Association chief Amanullah Baloch, former BBA chief Baz Mohammad and workers of Pukhtunkhwa Milli Awami Party and National Party were also in the convoy.

Heavy contingents of police and Rangers deployed by the Sindh government stopped the convoy and a police officer severed orders of the provincial home department preventing the protesters from entering Sindh.

Participants of the long march gathered around Mr Kurd’s car to stop law-enforcement personnel from taking him into custody.

However, the police officer said Mr Kurd was a ‘guest’ of Sindh and the government had no intention to arrest him.

Around 500 police and Rangers personnel had been deployed along the provincial border.

The Balochistan government had provided protection to the convoy from Quetta to Dera Allahyar and did not obstruct it, reportedly on the orders of Chief Minister Aslam Raisani.

The caravan was warmly greeted in Mach, Dhadar and Sibi by lawyers, political workers and members of civil society.

The caravan comprising more than 100 vehicles had left Quetta for Sukkur at about 11am.

Dr Hayee Baloch and Mir Tahir Bizenjo of the National Party accompanied the convoy till Mach.

Addressing receptions in Sibi and Dhadar, Mr Kurd criticised the Sindh government for arresting lawyers in Karachi and other parts of the province and creating hurdles in the way of the long march being held for reinstatement of deposed judges.

He said harsh and anti-democratic actions of the government would fail to stop lawyers from joining the march and a sit-in in Islamabad on March 16.

He said the lawyers had assured the government that the march would be peaceful and there would be no disturbance during the sit-in, but the government had opted for violence that would create trouble for the rulers instead of damaging the struggle.Criticising the Zardari administration for its failure to reverse the illegal action taken by former military dictator Pervez Musharraf of Nov 3, 2007, he said the lawyers’ movement would continue till the deposed judges, including Justice Iftikhar Mohammad Chaudhry, were reinstated.

He said Gen (retd) Musharraf had failed to suppress the lawyers’ movement and the current government would also fail to subdue the voice being raised for the rule of law.

Mr Kurd said if he and his colleagues were arrested by the Sindh government, the long march and sit-in would not be affected because thousands of other lawyers and political activists would reach Islamabad from Punjab and the NWFP.

He said it was in the interest of the government to restore the judiciary as it was on Nov 2, 2007, before the sit-in scheduled for March 16.

Waseem Shamsi adds from Sukkur: Talking to journalists at the border, Mr Kurd said the move to bar him from entering Sindh was unconstitutional because every citizen had the right to go anywhere in the country.

Heavy contingents of police and Rangers were deployed in Khairpur, Ghotki and Sadiqabad to stop the caravans.

In Sukkur where the long march from Balochistan and Karachi were to converge and proceed towards Punjab, all leaders of the movement have gone into hiding.
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