KARACHI, May 14: A lawyers’ convention is scheduled to be held here on May 17 to discuss the Legal Framework Order and the independence of judiciary.

Co-sponsored by the Pakistan Bar Council and the Supreme Court Bar Association and co-hosted by the Sindh Bar Council and the Sindh High Court Bar Association, the convention will be addressed, among others, by Justice Saiduzzaman Siddiqui, former chief justice, Justice Fakhruddin G. Ebrahim (retired) and Justice Wajihuddin Ahmed (retired).

Speaking at a press conference on Wednesday, SBC vice- chairman Mohammad Yasin Azad and members Mustafa Lakhani, Sadiq Hidayatullah, Mohammad Aqil and Ismail Memon said the convention was part of the lawyers’ campaign against the LFO.

They also wanted the superior court judges to take a fresh oath under the constitution and lay down their robes on reaching the constitutionally-prescribed age of superannuation.

A lawyers’ delegation that met the opposition representatives in Islamabad had been assured that there would be no compromise on parliament’s exclusive authority to amend the Constitution.

Meanwhile, the SBC has decided to strictly enforce the Legal Practitioners and Bar Council Rules in respect of use of past designations, such as “former attorney-general” or “justice (retired)” by practising lawyers as prefix or suffix on their letterheads, visiting cards, nameplates or signboards. It will also ask its members to conform to the rules prescribed for size of signboards.

Legal action is being contemplated against income tax and sales tax bar associations for using the word “Bar” without being affiliated with the SBC.

Such associations have a number of non-lawyers as their members while the word “Bar” is exclusively meant for lawyers’ associations.

They were issued notices but only the Mirpurkhas Income Tax Bar Association responded with an assertion that all its members were lawyers and that it wanted affiliation with the SBC.