PESHAWAR, April 3: Lawyers on Tuesday boycotted court proceedings and held a demonstration in protest against presidential reference against Chief Justice Iftikhar Mohammed Chaudhry.

They displayed banners and placards in the Peshawar High Court and the district courts.

A joint general body meeting of the Peshawar High Court Bar Association and the Peshawar District Bar Association demanded immediate reinstatement of the chief justice. Ishtiaq Ibraheem, Barrister Masood Kausar, Abdul Samad Khan and others spoke on the occasion.

They said that the Supreme Court should place a check on the continuous violation of the Constitution by General Pervez Musharraf.

They said the court had to restrain the general from re-electing himself from the present assemblies.

They hailed the role played by young lawyers in the struggle for the rule of law and supremacy of the Constitution.

They said that the unity among the lawyers’ community would bear fruit and the nation would get rid of the dictator soon.

They said that the bar associations in the far-flung areas had even extended full support to movement which proved that there was complete unity among their ranks.