KARACHI, July 3: Lawyers said on Tuesday said that the government was using the Lal Masjid operation to divert attention from the legal fraternity’s movement for judicial independence.

Lawyers boycotted court proceedings from 10.30am to 11.30am and held a general body meeting of the Karachi Bar Association (KBA) at the Shuhda-i-Punjab Hall.

After the meeting, KBA president Iftikhar Javaid Qazi told Dawn that Pakistan’s corrupt rulers were to blame for the increasing problems suffered by the citizenry, and the peoples’ anger would soon result in a revolution. He also pointed out that civic issues were not being addressed and that funds meant for development projects were being misappropriated.

The KBA vice-president Qadir Khan said that the government was not sincere about ensuring judicial independence or press freedom and termed the Lal Masjid stand-off as “an evergreen issue that is always raised when people show enthusiasm for the lawyers’ movement.” He added that the courts’ summer vacations ended recently and lawyers meant to step up their activities.

The KBA meeting held earlier was addressed by Sindh Bar Council member Fazal Qadir Memon, KBA general-secretary Naeem Qureshi and KBA members Waqar Shah and Ahmed Bakhsh Awan. The speakers claimed that Chief Justice Chaudhry’s suspension was a conspiracy against the judiciary and said that the people would force President General Pervez Musharraf to step down. They argued that citizens’ participation in the chief justice’s processions in different provinces proved that 160 million people were demanding the independence of the judiciary. The speakers also criticised the government for its failure to control the country’s deteriorating security situation, and escalating prices and unemployment figures.

Members of the Sindh High Court Bar Association held a general body meeting at the bar room, which was conducted by general secretary Munir-ur-Rehman and addressed by Sindh Bar Council member Salahuddin Khan Gandapur.

Mr Gandapur condemned the government for having placed curbs on the press and said that journalists deserved credit for covering the lawyers’ movement despite official pressure. He added that media professionals enjoyed the full legal support of the country’s lawyers.

Complying with the Pakistan Bar Council’s decision, lawyers of the Sindh High Court, the City Courts and the Malir District Courts observed a token hunger strike in their bars against the suspension of Chief Justice Chaudhry.