KARACHI, Dec 5: The Pakistan Professional Forum – a representative body of the Pakistan Islamic Medical Association, Pakistan Engineers Forum, Pakistan Islamic Lawyers Movement, Pakistan Business Forum, Accountant Forum and Tanzeem-i-Asataza – has condemned the suspension of the country’s constitution, the imposition of emergency, the removal of judges, harassment of teachers and students of the Lahore University of Management Sciences (LUMS), the curbs on the media and the arrest of legal practitioners.

Addressing a news conference at the Karachi Press Club, PPF representative Dr Misbah-ul-Aziz said the recent spate of events that resulted in the suspension of the constitution, civil rights and the freedom of expression was considered an offence. All those judges who refused to surrender their principled stand were either detained or kept under surveillance. He also condemned the arrest of thousands of lawyers, journalists and civilians.

The forum demanded the restoration of an independent judiciary with the reinstatement of all the deposed judges. It was also demanded that restrictions put on Geo, FM radio channels and talk shows on other channels be lifted.

Dr Aziz said baseless cases against eminent lawyers Aitzaz Ahsan, Muneer A. Malik, and Justice Tariq Mehmood be withdrawn and all those under house arrest be freed. Similarly, he said, all political and non-political civilians who had been arrested in the last few months for expressing their opinions should be released.

He condemned the nomination of teachers and students of LUMS in an FIR and described it as an act of harassment.

He urged all political parties to collectively boycott the forthcoming elections. In the presence of martial law under the disguise of the PCO and without the restoration of independence of the judiciary, freedom of expression, basic human rights, free and fair elections were impossible.

The forum requested particularly those political parties who were aspiring for elections to review and reverse their decisions in the best interest of the country. It maintained that if the political parties took part in the elections without the restoration of the judiciary, they would strengthen the martial law under a civilian umbrella and become party to the rebirth of the infamous doctrine of necessity which they themselves had pledged to bury.

The parties were suggested to participate in elections only if the government agreed on three basic points — restoration of an independent judiciary with the reinstatement of deposed judges, the freedom of expression with lifting of the curbs on the media and constitution of an impartial election commission. Otherwise, their participation in the election would tantamount to showing their backs to the judges who had taken a phenomenal stand against the military dictations, the forum said.