KARACHI, June 5: Legal proceedings could not be held at the City Courts and the Malir District Court on Thursday due to lawyers’ boycott observed in line with the Pakistan Bar Council’s call for the weekly protest on Thursdays to press the government to reinstate all the judges deposed on Nov 3, 2007 by President Gen Pervez Musharraf.

Under-trial prisoners were brought to the City Courts’ police lock-up from different prisons but hearing of their cases could not be held although the judges were present in their respective chambers.

The Karachi Bar Association held its governing body meeting in the Shuhada-i-Punjab Hall of the City Courts to reaffirm its resolve to continue the struggle spearheaded by the legal fraternity for the restoration of the judiciary to its pre-Nov 2 position.

Speaking at the meeting, KBA leaders said that the legal fraternity would resist any move to legitimise the actions taken on and after Nov 3, 2007 by Gen Musharraf as head of the state, maintaining that he was not a legitimately elected president. They strongly criticised the Pakistan People’s Party for hindering reinstatement of the deposed judges.

KBA president Mahmoodul Hasan observed that the political groups posing as pro-democratic and anti-Musharraf entities were trying to force the lawyers based in the interior of Sindh not to take part in the legal fraternity’s upcoming long march. He warned that such forces would not succeed in dissuading the lawyers from actively supporting the sustained struggle.

He also criticised the constitutional package offered by the PPP, and made it clear that the legal fraternity would not accept the proposed appointment of Irshad Hasan Khan and Riaz Sheikh as members of a committee to be tasked with scrutinizing complaints against judges and taking a decision thereof.

Mr Hasan was of the view that parliament was not likely to survive unless the judiciary was resorted to its Nov-2 position. He ruled out possibility of the PCO Chief Justice of Supreme Court Justice Abdul Hameed Dogar being invited or allowed to address the Karachi bar, adding that PPP ministers would also be barred from addressing the bar if the party did not change its attitude.

Member of the Sindh Bar Council Salahuddin Khan Gandapur regretted that the judiciary in the past had been validating the extra-constitutional and illegal actions taken by dictators, pointing that the PCO judges were also supporting the unconstitutional actions taken by Gen Pervez Musharraf. He warned that the legal fraternity would launch a fresh struggle against the political forces which tried to legitimize his actions.

Mr Gandapur reminded the PPP and other parties that the “Charter of Democracy” signed by the PPP and PML-N clearly stated that the PCO judges would not be retained as judges and that an independent and pro-democratic judiciary would be restored. However, he said, the PPP was trying to accommodate such judges in the future set-up.

Advocate Naheed Afzal said that the PPP had held out the assurance before the Feb 18 general election that the deposed judges would be reinstated through an executive order but after coming to power, it was using delay tactics after “striking a deal with the US.”

Mohammad Ali Abbassi, Abdul Khaliq Junejo and Khalid Mumtaz also spoke on the occasion.

Later, KBA general-secretary Naeem Qureshi told a press conference that a big group of the city-based lawyers would leave for Islamabad on June 9 from the bar’s office to participate in the long march.