RAWALPINDI, May 12: Lawyers in Islamabad and Rawalpindi on Monday staged protest demonstrations against the May 12, 2007 killings in Karachi, deadlock over restoration of the deposed judges and curbs on media by the Supreme Court of Pakistan.

Addressing a gathering of lawyers on Constitutional Avenue, Supreme Court Bar Association President Aitzaz Ahsan said a year had lapsed since the killing of 50 innocent people in Karachi, when the deposed chief justice Iftikhar Mohammad Chaudhry was not allowed to enter the city and address the Sindh High Court Bar Association.

He said it was unfortunate that even after the passage of one year nobody has been held responsible for the deaths of innocent people on the Karachi roads. “No judge has dared to fix the responsibility and punish the killers,” he said.

Mr Ahsan said it was also disappointing that the elected representatives of the country had failed to honour their pledge to restore the deposed judges. He said the lawyers would keep on protesting for the return of the judges unconstitutionally removed on November 3 last year. “We will carry on our struggle for independence of the judiciary with more energy and vigour,” he declared.

He said he would contest by-election for a National Assembly seat from Rawalpindi but his election would no way affect the campaign of the lawyers.

Criticising the decision of the Supreme Court to obtain records of all material broadcast and published about the SC since November 3, 2007, Mr Ahsan termed it a bane for the media in the country.