KARACHI, March 24: The struggle for the independence of the judiciary has rekindled the hopes fostered by the Pakistan Movement, Pakistan Bar Council member Ali Ahmad Kurd told a slogan-chanting crowd of lawyers at a meeting of the Sindh High Court Bar Association on Monday.

The hopes, he said, had been shattered by frequent military interventions. The people aspired for a free society based on justice and respect for civil liberties and fundamental rights. The widespread belief was that the new state would look after their needs and replace the coercive apparatus put in place by the colonial rulers with a just system based on Islamic concepts of justice, equity and equality. What they got instead was a tyranny of the worst order.

Mr Kurd reminded politicians that it was the lawyers’ struggle that forced the quasi-military regime to beat a retreat and drop its plans to prolong its rule. It was under pressure from the legal fraternity that elections had to be held in a generally fair and impartial manner. The turn-out would have been much higher had lawyers and parties supporting their struggle not boycotted the polls.

The PBC member warned that conspiracies were still afoot to frustrate the Murree Declaration whereby the coalition partners made a commitment to have the deposed judges reinstated. He asked the president’s advisers not to mislead him. The advisers should honestly and frankly apprise the president of the correct constitutional position in respect of the judiciary. The deposed judges are a beacon of light for the people and nothing short of their unconditional and complete restoration would satisfy them. A count-down has already begun and a firm decision for restoration was being anxiously awaited.

Addressing the gathering, deposed SHC judges Gulzar Ahmed and Maqbool Baqar appreciated the lawyers’ struggle and said it had ushered into an era of enlightenment. A new hope for a system of governance free of oppression, injustice, corruption, favouritism and nepotism had been kindled in the hearts and minds of people and the judiciary should ensure after its restoration that it was not belied. They said the movement should continue after the restoration of the pre-November 3, 2007, judicial set-up.

SHCBA President Rasheed A. Razvi emphasized that the bar-bench understanding should continue after the reinstatement of the deposed judges. He felt confident that the judges would never forget the sacrifices made by lawyers and civil society for their restoration. He said an irreversible advance had been made towards a just system and the old order would never be allowed to stage a come-back. The people were now aware and vigilant, he said.

Commenting on the release of judges, Mr Razvi said later in the evening that it was too early to say whether it was a step in the direction of complete restoration. The new prime minister’s first order belied the attorney-general’s claim that the judges were not under house arrest. However, it was yet to be seen whether only barriers placed in front of their houses had been removed or they were totally free to move about. Is there any condition attached to the removal of barriers? he asked and said things would be clear with the passage of time. He hoped that the new ruling coalition would fulfil their pledge to the nation.

King’s party rejected

Meanwhile, Senator Azam Khan Sawati told a general-body meeting of the Karachi Bar Association at the Shuhada-i-Punjab Hall of the City Courts on Monday that the people of the country had rejected the king’s party in the Feb 18 general elections in a move that clearly indicated that they wanted to get rid of Pervez Musharraf and restore the independent judiciary.

He was of the view that a judge could only be removed under Article 209 of the Constitution, adding that since President Musharraf had imposed the Provisional Constitution Order in his capacity as a military ruler, all the Nov 3 steps were voided. Neither a two-thirds majority in parliament nor a resolution was needed to undo Nov 3 actions since they were unconstitutional and illegal. He recalled that a seven-member bench of the Supreme Court had also rejected the imposition of the PCO.

He lauded the legal fraternity for undertaking a year-long struggle for the restoration of the Nov 2 judiciary, the rule of law, supremacy of the Constitution and restoration of democracy. He paid tribute to the deposed judges who made sacrifices for the cause of an independent judiciary. He also appreciated the role of the media, civil society, political workers and overseas Pakistanis during the movement.

“We are very close to our destination as the new parliament would work for Pakistan instead of the United States and restore the deposed judges. But conspiracies were being hatched everywhere by Pervez Musharraf and his associates to sabotage the ongoing struggle. We must stay united in order to make such plots unsuccessful,” he added.

Senator Sawati was of the view that the rulers of the country had committed a big mistake by joining the so-called war on terror. He held President Musharraf and former prime minister Shaukat Aziz responsible for the recent sugar and wheat flour crises.