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KARACHI, Dec 6: Legal proceedings remained suspended in the City Courts and Malir District Courts on Thursday as lawyers stayed away from courts in response to a strike call given by the Pakistan Bar Council.
The legal fraternity is protesting against the emergency rule, the ousting of the Supreme Court chief justice and other judges, the promulgation of the Provisional Constitution Order (PCO), the detention of lawyers including the top leadership of the PBC and amendments in the Legal Practitioners and Bar Councils Act, 1973.
About 364 undertrial prisoners were brought to the City Courts from different prisons of the city, but were taken back without being produced in the courts because of the lawyers’ boycott. The judges, however, remained in their chambers.
Stamp paper vendors did open their shops but later shuttered them due to the lack of business. However, the canteens situated on the City Courts premises remained open.
Meanwhile, the Karachi Bar Association (KBA) urged the government to immediately reinstate the deposed judges, release all the detained lawyers, lift restrictions from the media, withdraw the PCO, and form an independent election commission to ensure fair polls.
These demands were made at a general body meeting of the KBA on Thursday, held in the Shuhada-i-Punjab Hall of the City Courts with senior member of the managing committee K.K. Javaid Khan in the chair.
KBA general secretary Naeem Qureshi insisted that there was no possibility of fair elections under the PCO and in the presence of Pervez Musharraf as president, and urged all the political parties to stay away from the upcoming elections.
Mushtaq Awan criticised Jamiat Ulema-i-Islam chief Maulana Fazlur Rahman and Pakistan People’s Party chairperson Benazir Bhutto for their probable participation in the Jan 8 elections.
He said the legal fraternity alone could not make the government to lift the state of emergency, reinstate the deposed judges and to restore democracy, and urged all the political parties and civil society to play their role in this regard.
It was decided at the meeting that lawyers would take out a procession from the City Courts to the Karachi Press Club on Dec 13 to protest against the ousting of judges, promulgation of the PCO, detention of lawyers and restrictions on the judiciary and the media. Naheed Afzal and Khalid Junejo also spoke at the meeting.
It was also announced that the one-hour boycott of court proceedings from 11 to 12noon would continue on a daily basis while a complete strike would be observed on every Thursday.
SHCBA call
The Sindh High Court Bar Association decided on Thursday to observe a complete strike on Dec 13 and thereafter on every Thursday.
The decision was taken by a general body meeting, which endorsed a Pakistan Bar Council call in this behalf. A demonstration would also be held on the SHC premises followed by a peaceful rally up to the Karachi Press Club. The newly-elected SHCBA President, Rasheed A. Razvi, who is also a member of the PBC, told the meeting that the council had set aside a Lahore High Court judge’s order for cancellation of an advocate’s licence in its capacity as the apex regulatory body of the profession. Jamaat-i-Islami leaders Asadullah Bhutto, Mohammad Hussain Mehnati and Niamatullah Khan came to the meeting to greet the lawyers on their struggle for the restoration of the Constitution and the pre-November 3 judiciary.
JI chief Qazi Hussain Ahmad also rang up Mr Razvi during the meeting to assure him of his party’s all-out support to the lawyers in their struggle for the rule of law and independence of the judiciary. He said the JI would not drop its demand for the reinstatement of judges as a condition precedent to its participation in the forthcoming general election.
Seminar
Meanwhile, the SHCBA has scheduled a seminar on ‘The role of lawyers in enforcement of human rights’ on Dec 10 to commemorate the Human Rights Day.
Deposed chief justice Sabihuddin Ahmed has consented to preside over the seminar, according to a press release issued by SHCBA Secretary Munirur Rahman.
