LAHORE, Nov 3: The canvass of lawyers’ movement reflected once more all its colours as protesters from several walks of life came together to mark Nov 3 as a black day.

The sharp split in the Pakistan Bar Council, summer spells at courts and hot and humid Ramazan had painted the movement pale and spread — giving an impression that it will soon cease to exist.

But against the backdrop of the black day — observed to condemn the then chief of army staff Gen Pervez Musharraf’s action of imposing emergency and removing superior courts’ judges on Nov 3, 2007 — lawyers, students, doctors, activists and workers of political parties proved otherwise.

Several protesters, who spoke on the occasion, said the change in the government had changed nothing but the man at the helm of affairs.

“Go Zardari go,” chanted the protesters with a fervour witnessed in the rallies against Gen Musharraf.

Hundreds of lawyers, workers of Jamaat-i-Islami (JI), Pakistan Tehrik-i-Insaaf (PTI), Khaksar Tehrik (KT), Pakhtoonkhwa Milli Awami Party (PkMAP), Pakistan Medical Association (PMA), Concerned Citizens of Pakistan (CCP), Students Action Committee (SAC), Islami Jamiat-i-Tulba (IJT) and others marched on The Mall and later staged a sit-in for around two hours in front of Governor’s House.

However, the call to boycott court proceedings attracted poor response though the LHCBA office-bearers tried to persuade their colleagues to observe the boycott. “We can’t physically stop anyone,” said Lahore High Court Bar Association (LHCBA) secretary Rana Asadullah, who assembled with his colleagues in front of courtrooms to stop their colleagues from appearing before judges.

The Lahore Bar Association (LBA) also took out a rally from Aiwan-i-Adl and staged a sit-in at the Post Master General Chowk for over an hour. In the rally that came out of the Lahore High Court, several protesters carried posters of deposed Chief Justice Iftikhar Mohammad Chaudhry and chanted slogans against President Asif Ali Zardari.

LHCBA secretary Asadullah informed the protesters that he had sent back the packs of fruit juice sent by Governor’s House in protest against the federal government. The protesters kept both sides of The Mall blocked for a couple of hours, causing a traffic jam.

Prominent among the protesters were Ahsan Rasheed of the TI, Liaquat Baloch, Fareed Parach and Ameerul Azeem of JI, Mubeen Khan of PkMAP, Allama Hameeduddin Ahmadal Mashraqi of KT, Hamid Zaman of CCP and PML-N MNA Naseer Ahmad Bhutta.

Earlier, in the general house meeting of the LHCBA, Human Rights Commission of Pakistan (HRCP) Chairperson Asma Jehangir said the lawyers had forced General Musharraf to leave despite the fact he had them beaten up and detained. Making a reference to the lawyers affiliated with the PPP, she said they were aware of the situation but had lost the right path.

She said the government was hand in glove with the perpetrators of chaos in the country and the killers of Benazir Bhutto. “You did not hold Musharraf accountable for his wrongdoings but the chief justice of Pakistan for nothing,” she said.

She said the government was making a mockery of democracy by standing in the way of the establishment of the rule of law and the independence of judiciary. She added how the government could deliberately keep other institutions in a shamble when it had been harping on the independence of institutions like the Election Commission of Pakistan. She said still several institutions were under the control of the touts of generals.

She accused the ISI of having a hand in the Bajaur and Swat unrest and wondered who had been providing arms to militants. She said the ruling party was not the PPP that Benazir Bhutto headed herself.

She said the country could not be run with judiciary which took directives frequently on telephone. She added the political parties negating the norms of democracy would perish.

Raja Ayub Rathor advocate said if Chief Justice Iftikhar Chaudhry was not restored immediately the lawyers would remove the government.

Malik Munsif Awan advocate said the lawyers would never accept government’s offer of talks because it neither tried General Musharraf for treason nor restored Chief Justice Chaudhry. He criticised the government for offering Justice Chaudhry senator’s slot instead of allowing him to resume his office.

MNA Bhutta said some people thought lawyers’ movement had weakened and lawyers stood divided. “The lawyers are not divided at all. They stand united for the restoration of the chief justice and other deposed judges,” he said.

He said PML-N chief Nawaz Sharif stood with the lawyers’ community for the restoration of the chief justice and would not hesitate in extending all the support they needed. Bhutta’s pledge on behalf of Sharif met a sharp remarks by LHCBA secretary Asadullah, who said the Punjab government should withdraw the cases lodged against lawyers for protesting on Nov 5 in the wake of imposition of emergency last year.

Allah Buksh Gondal advocate said the lawyers had defeated the government by getting Ali Ahmad Kurd elected as the president of the Supreme Court Bar Association. He lashed out at the People’s Lawyers Forum (PLF) — a group of lawyers associated with the PPP — for issuing a statement that the forum stood with the lawyers’ community in observing Nov 3 as a black day. “Have they forgotten how their party reneged on their promises over the restoration of the chief justice?” he said.

PLF member Raja Zulqarnain said the PPP government was still toeing General Musharraf’s policies without any change. He added the lawyers would never negotiate with President Zardari, who reneged on his written and verbal promises to restore Justice Chaudhry.

Lawyers started thumping desks and chanted ‘go Zardari go’ as soon as Zulqrnain said “Zardari is a liar and a protégé of the United States”. He asked political forces to join in the lawyers’ campaign for defeating the United States designs of keeping the country under its influence.

The house also unanimously passed a resolution, asking the federal government to try Gen Musharraf for high treason.

The house applauded for PLF member Raja Zulqarnain for his role in the movement for the restoration of the deposed judges when former LHCBA vice-president Firdous Butt invited its attention to it.

Meanwhile, office-bearers of the Lahore Bar Association will decide about their plan to lock courtrooms in a meeting scheduled for Tuesday (today).