KARACHI, Oct 18: Political activists and lawyers gave a rousing welcome to the deposed chief justice of Pakistan, Justice Iftikhar Mohammad Chaudhry, on Saturday when he arrived here from Islamabad to visit Malir Bar before proceeding to Hyderabad where he was scheduled to address a lawyers’ convention.

While a large number of lawyers reached the airport from Karachi and Sindh High Court Bar Associations, small groups of workers of Pakistan Tehrik-i-Insaf, Jamaat-i-Islami, Pakistan Muslim League-N, Pakhtoonkhwa Milli Awami Party and other parties also joined them outside the airport lounge to welcome the deposed CJ.

The participants were carrying portraits of Justice Iftikhar and flags of their political parties and were shouting slogans for the independence and restoration of the pre-Nov 3 judiciary.

Members of the Pakistan People’s Party and the Awami National Party were not present.

The people showered rose petals on the deposed CJ when he emerged from the lounge of the airport. He was accompanied by Supreme Court Bar Association President Chaudhry Aitzaz Ahsan, Athar Minallah, Hamid Khan and others.

Strict security measures were taken at the airport and on the road leading to the Malir Bar as police mobile vans were escorting Justice Iftikhar’s caravan, which took about three hours to reach the Malir Bar from the Karachi airport.

Various political parties and NGOs had set up roadside camps to welcome him.

At the Malir Bar, the deposed CJP was accorded a warm welcome by enthusiastic lawyers. A deposed judge of the Sindh High Court, Justice Musheer Alam, also reached the Malir Bar to welcome Justice Iftikhar Mohammad Chaudhry. Office-bearers of the Malir Bar presented the traditional gift of an Ajrak to the deposed CJ and other guests.

In his brief address, deposed Chief Justice Iftikhar Mohammad Chaudhry expressed his condolences with the relatives of those killed in the violent incidents of May 12, 2007, October 18, 2007 and April 9, 2008.

He paid tribute to the Malir Bar Association for its vital role in the lawyers’ movement.

He said the legal fraternity was striving for a noble cause. “Keeping in view the undeterred struggle of all lawyers in the country, I am sure our success is not far away,” he added.

Earlier, in his address, Barrister Aitzaz Ahsan recalled the first attack on the life of former prime minister Benazir Bhutto on Oct 18, 2007, in which over 160 people were killed.He said that after the attack, Ms Bhutto addressed a rally outside the residence of the deposed CJ in Islamabad and declared that Justice Iftikhar was her chief justice and that the PPP would restore him after coming to power.