SAHIWAL, Sept 23: Lawyers of different bar associations observed ‘Youm-i-Iftikhar’ on Tuesday and vowed to continue their struggle for an independent judiciary.

Around 300 members of the Sahiwal DBA assembled on their bar premises, and said they would not accept any extension in existing chief justice’s tenure. They also demanded that Justice Iftikhar be reinstated as chief justice of Pakistan immediately.

They observed a strike and did not attend courts. They also wore black armbands and hoisted a black flag on their bar office.

DBA President Tahir Bashir said the government was extending the tenure of Chief Justice Abdul Hameed Dogar till 2010, which was not acceptable to the lawyers’ community. Chaudhry Abdul Mateen said the PPP was betraying with the soul of its assassinated chairperson, Benazir Bhutto, who had promised the restoration of Justice Iftikhar in front of her cordoned house. “Their ‘Naik’ daily comes with a different solution to ridicule lawyers as well as judges.”

GUJRANWALA: DBA members staged a rally from district courts complex to Gondalanwala Chowk in connection with ‘Youm-i-Iftikhar’. Earlier, participants in a DBA meeting chaired by bar president Malik Shaukat Ali Awan appreciated the daring stance of deposed Chief Justice Iftikhar Mohammad Chaudhry against dictatorship.