RAWALPINDI, March 11: Supreme Court Bar Association (SCBA) President Aitzaz Ahsan here on Tuesday said lawyers would not accept any Supreme Court stay order against the Murree declaration signed by Pakistan People’s Party and Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz promising reinstatement of the pre-November 3 judiciary within one month after formation of a new government.

He stated this while addressing a seminar titled “Democracy without independent judiciary and free media is futile” organised by High Court Bar Association (HCBA) and Rawalpindi Islamabad Union of Journalists at the local press club.

Mr Ahsan said the Murree pact was the result of the year-long struggle of lawyers and members of civil society and they would not allow any force to reverse their achievement. He said the attorney-general’s observation that two-third majority in both the houses of parliament was mandatory to restore the judges was equal to say that an individual could amend the 1973 constitution.

He said the elected representatives would themselves take necessary measures against any step to invalidate the Murree agreement. He said lawyers would march towards the Army House and stage a sit-in there as long as the judges were not restored and legal action not taken against Musharraf. “We will hold peaceful protests for the rule of law and independence of judiciary,” he added.

He said the president should have stepped down either on July 20, when the Supreme Court restored the chief justice of Pakistan, or on February 18, when the nation gave its verdict against him.

Speaking on the occasion, PML-N leader and MNA-elect Makhdoom Javed Hashmi said all hurdles in the way of restoration of the deposed judges would be removed after formation of the federal government. He said majority of the MNAs-elect were not in a mood to give constitutional cover to the steps taken by President Musharraf since November 3, 2007.

Former vice-president Pakistan Bar Council, Ali Ahmed Kurd said the lawyers’ movement had sensitised the people and they were now in a position to make dictators accountable - an achievement that article 6 of the constitution could not ensure.

Other speakers including senior journalist Minhaj Burna, Pakistan Federal Union of Journalists secretary-general Mazhar Abbas, president RIUJ Afzal Butt and HCBA chief Sardar Asmatullah stressed the need for freedom of the press and independence of judiciary to ensure sustainable democracy in the country.