GUJAR KHAN, Aug 26: Supreme Court Bar Association (SCBA) President Aitzaz Ahsan on Tuesday said the lawyers would continue with their struggle for the restoration of the independent judiciary as only such an institution could bring stability to the country.

Talking to attorneys and rights activists in Jhelum and Gujar Khan, Mr Ahsan said the lawyers and civil society should come out on Thursday to stage their peaceful protests by blocking main roads in cities across the country.

The SCBA president, who was flanked by High Court Bar Association Rawalpindi president Sardar Ismatullah, was welcomed by the Gujar Khan bar president, Iftikhar Hussain Qureshi.

Mr Ahsan said: “Giving a safe passage to a dictator meant giving a safe passage to a future dictator.”

He said the lawyers were unhappy over this decision, adding that after the exit of former president Pervez Musharraf, the inadvertent delay in the restoration of deposed judges was beyond comprehension.

In Jhelum, Mr Ahsan was received by a larger gathering of lawyers and representatives of the civil society.

At the District Bar Association (DBA) Jhelum, he said during the last 61 years, the judiciary had been kept in shackles, adding that “chief justice Iftikhar Mohammad Chaudhry was a harbinger of the independence of judiciary”. He said the lawyers’ struggle was bound to succeed.

Bank guard’s body found: A bank guard who was missing from his duty for the last two days was found dead at the bank of a stream near Bewal town on Tuesday, police said.

According to the police, Imran Ullah Khan was working at HBL for the last 15 years. On Monday morning, he did not turn up on his duty over which the bank manager got suspicious and reported the matter to the local police and his relatives. During the search in the area, his body was found at the bank of the stream where he had gone for fishing on Sunday. His family members and the bank manager told the police that he was a heart patient.

The police have registered a case of suicide over the report of his heirs and sent the body to the hospital. His body was taken to Sawabi.

Meanwhile, an old man was found dead in his house in mysterious circumstances on Tuesday evening.