ISLAMABAD, March 12: Lawyers will besiege the Army House, the official residence of President Pervez Musharraf, if the presidency tried to sabotage the Bhurban Declaration, according to president of the Supreme Court Bar Association (SCBA) Chaudhry Aitzaz Ahsan.

Talking to reporters after meeting PPP co-chairman Asif Ali Zardari here on Wednesday, the SCBA president said the lawyers would march on Rawalpindi and besiege the Army House.

Mr Ahsan said traders had assured lawyers of their full support in the struggle for independence of the judiciary and they could give a call for a countrywide shutter-down strike. He asked the judges of the superior courts not to become party to what he called conspiracies being hatched at the Aiwan-i-Sadar.

Mr Ahsan said President Musharraf had been isolated and he should allow democracy to flourish in the country and let political parties implement the Bhurban Declaration, in which the PPP and PML-N had agreed to restore the deposed judges within 30 days of the formation of the new government.

The SCBA president said that the deposed chief justice had been reinstated on July 20, 2007, through a Supreme Court decision and judges who had taken oath under the Provisional Constitution Order had also been members of the bench that had given the verdict.

Mr Ahsan said that although there was no need for a parliamentary resolution for restoration of the deposed judges, the resolution would provide strength to the executive and the government in the implementation of the decision.

Moreover, he said, the present judges should also realise that the parliament was with the deposed judges.

Mr Ahsan said it was up to the PPP to decide whether he should take part in a by-election.

Condemning the recent suicide attacks in Lahore, Mr Ahsan said the intensity of terrorist attacks had increased because of the president’s insistence to stay in power. He said he believed that terrorist-related incidents would subside if President Musharraf quit his post.

Later, Mr Ahsan visited the Judges Colony to express solidarity with the protesting lawyers.