HARIPUR, May 28: Lawyers in Haripur and Nowshera staged demonstrations on Monday to protest against Justice Javed Iqbal’s appointment as acting Chief Justice of the Supreme Court. Supreme Court Bar Association president Munir A. Malik had given a call for the demonstrations.

In Haripur, lawyers boycotted court proceedings and staged a protest demonstration. Chanting slogans against the president and the government, they blocked the GT Road for half an hour.

Advocate Javed Qureshi said that “the Constitution does not permit the appointment of any person as acting CJ when the Chief Justice himself is very much in the country.”

Saying that Pakistan had been plunged into a crisis because of General Musharraf’s extra-Constitutional activities, he emphasised that all institutions should work within Constitutionally-defined parameters.

President of the District Bar Council (DBC) Haripur, Nawaz Swati, and DBC secretary Asad Saeed also addressed the protesters. The legal community also boycotted court proceedings in Nowshera and staged a demonstration against Justice Iqbal’s appointment. Led by Nowshera Bar Association president Farooq Khan, the protesters marched along various streets and blocked the GT Road. Speakers at the occasion said that the lawyers’ movement for an independent judiciary would continue to its logical conclusion.