0
MULTAN, July 26: Supreme Court Bar Association President Aitzaz Ahsan said on Saturday that the firm stand of lawyers had united all deposed judges and now not a single judge was ready to resume his duty without the reinstatement of all of them, including Chief Justice Iftikhar Mohammad Chaudhry.
Addressing a press conference at the Circuit House here, Mr Ahsan said that lawyers would continue their struggle till the reinstatement of all judges.
Prominent lawyers Ali Ahmed Kurd and Munir Malik were also present on the occasion.
Mr Ahsan, however, warned that if any judge rejoined his post without reinstatement of all judges, the legal community would consider him a PCO judge.
Addressing big gatherings in Shuajabad and Jalalpur Pirwala, Mr Ahsan referred to steep rise in prices of fuel and food items and said after reinstatement of Justice Iftikhar Chaudhry, lawyers would file a petition in the Supreme Court against price hike.
Ali Ahmed Kurd said judges sitting in the Supreme Court building were not “real judges” as they were not providing justice because “real judges” were out on roads and lawyers wanted their immediate reinstatement.
Two former PML-Q members from the Punjab Assembly, Rana Qasim Noon and Ibrahim Khan, attended the caravan.
WARM WELCOME: The caravan of deposed Chief Justice Iftikhar Muhammad Chaudhry was accorded a warm welcome on its way to Bahawalpur from Multan, where he was scheduled to address a lawyers’ convention on Saturday night.
The caravan left Multan at 11:30am and before its departure prayers were offered in the Lahore High Court’s Multan bench for reinstatement of all judges
Camps were set up along the entire route of the procession and a large number of people were seen standing along roads to greet the deposed chief justice and lawyers.
A large number of workers and supporters of Pakistan Muslim League (Nawaz), Jamaat-i-Islami and Tehrik-i-Insaaf were present throughout the route of lawyers’ caravan. However, no worker and supporter of ruling Pakistan People’s Party were seen.
Although stages were set up in Shujabad and Jalalpur Pirwala, only Mr Ahsan, Ali Ahmed Kurd and Munir A. Malik addressed participants of the procession while chief justice remained seated in his vehicle.
JUSTICE IFTIKHAR: Addressing lawyers at the Multan bench of the Lahore High Court on Friday, deposed chief justice Iftikhar Mohammad Chaudhry said economic progress of a country was directly linked to independence of the judiciary.
He said the economic crisis could ultimately be traced to the absence of an independent judiciary.
He said a weak judiciary could only provide relief to some “individuals”, but at the cost of economy and public welfare.
He said that he believed the judiciary should work within constitutional parameters and if parliament and the executive breached their constitutional and legal limits, the judiciary should stop them.
He said all believed in the supremacy of parliament, but the constitution was greater than parliament. He said parliament should ensure the rule of law, besides providing resources for public welfare.
He praised Aitzaz Ahsan for securing a place among the world’s leading intellectuals.
