FAISALABAD, June 17: Thousands of lawyers, workers of opposition parties and people from different walks of life braved rain and waited all night to welcome Chief Justice Iftikhar Mohammad Chaudhry whose motorcade of hundreds of vehicles reached the textile capital of Pakistan on Sunday morning.

The CJ’s caravan took 22 hours to reach Faisalabad from Islamabad, a drive that usually takes four hours, and reached the bar premises at 7am. The chief justice was scheduled to address the Faisalabad bar at 5pm on Saturday.

When the caravan of the chief justice reached the place, the participants showered it with rose petals and chanted slogans.

Addressing over 5,000 lawyers at the convention held on the bar premises, Justice Iftikhar said the dispensation of justice on equal basis made a society progress and the elimination of discrimination between the poor and the rich could remove sense of deprivation.

“If it happens then no one can suppress the people and dare to take law into his own hands.”

He said that a society could not progress without peace. Steady progress would not be possible without the rule of law and supremacy of judiciary, he added.

Citing some of his verdicts, he said he had tried his best to ensure the enforcement of public interest litigation (PIL) and a number of such cases had been decided. He said that courts would not be able to administer justice without the enforcement of PIL.

Although the District Bar Association of Faisalabad had invited judges of lower and apex courts to attend the convention, only one additional district and sessions judge from Badin, Minthar Jatoi, attended the function. He presented shawls to the chief Justice, his counsel Atizaz Ahsan and Supreme Court Bar Association (SCBP) president Munir A. Malik.

When some lawyers raised political slogans during the speech, the chief justice reprimanded them and urged them to be patient.

“You have been struggling for three months for the supremacy of Constitution and the nation has pinned high hopes on you,” he told lawyers.

After the reception at the Lahore High Court bar, this was another rousing welcome accorded to the chief justice; people waited for more than 20 hours to listen to the country’s top judge who was made non-functional by the president on March 9.

Expressing his affiliation with Faisalabad, Justice Iftikhar said it was a great opportunity to address the legal fraternity here.

CJ’s counsel Atizaz Ahsan vowed to ensure the dispensation of justice and said that after the reinstatement of Justice Iftikhar, a fight would start for law and justice, for economic resources and availability of jobs to all sections of people.

He thanked political parties’ leaders and workers for their role in the struggle for the supremacy of law and judiciary.

Ali Ahmed Kurd, a senior lawyer in the chief justice’s legal team, said that a war with the generals had begun and lawyers and the masses were united against the presidential reference.

SCBP president Munir Malik said the lawyers’ community was united. “Now it’s our obligation to create awareness among people about justice. We also have to inform judges of their role in dispensing justice.”

Balochistan Bar Association president Mir Baz Mohammad, Faisalabad DBA president Tanvir Randhawa, Justice (retd) Ms Fakhur Nisa, Ahmed Saeed Awan and office-bearers of different bar associations also addressed the convention.

There was an elaborate security arrangement throughout the CJ’s route and around the bar premises.