ISLAMABAD, May 15: The lawyers and counsel of the Chief Justice of Pakistan observed a one-hour token hunger strike in front of the Pakistan Supreme Court, here on Tuesday, protesting against the presidential reference.

The participants of the hunger strike included advocates Tariq Mehmood, Shafqat Abbasi, Taufeeq Asif and Mehreen Anwar Raja, who sat on the pavement under the sizzling heat from 12:30pm to 1:30pm to observe the strike.

The protesters said that the one-hour token hunger strike would continue till the judicial crisis came to an end, the presidential reference was withdrawn and the independence of the judiciary and supremacy of the Constitution was restored.

Later, the strike was joined by PPP MNAs, Naheed Khan, Fouzia Habib, Rabina Sadiq Khyamkhani, Khwaja Asif of PML-Nawaz, Fareed Paracha of MMA, Senator Safdar Abbasi of PPP and Maj-Gen (retired) Hamid Gul, former chief of ISI.

The protesting lawyers vowed to continue holding the strike on a daily basis, during the hearing of the presidential reference against the CJ, until it was withdrawn.