ISLAMABAD, June 28: The Pakistan Bar Council (PBC) in its 147th meeting has approved the proposals of its action committee to conduct a mock trial of those guilty of subverting the 1973 Constitution.

Presided over by PBC Vice Chairman Qazi Muhammad Anwar, the meeting also stressed on the early formulation of modalities of the trial by the sub-committee. Earlier, the Supreme Court Bar Association (SCBA) and PBC had announced jointly that they would hold a mock trial of those said to be guilty of subverting the 1973 constitution.

This trial aims to replicate the famous 17th century trial in Britain of General Cromwell, who had seized power by taking advantage of a tussle between the British parliament and the English king as well as between the judiciary and the parliament. When the monarchy was later restored, his body was exhumed and a grand jury convicted his bony skeletal remains.

The 147th meeting, held in Quetta on last Saturday also elected Rasheed A. Rizvi unopposed, member from Karachi as vice-chairman of PBC to fill the vacancy created by the resignation of Qazi Muhammad Anwar.

The meeting called upon the Advocate-General, Punjab in strongest terms to hold the elections to the Punjab Bar Council this year in the month of November and also asked the lawyers in the Punjab and the members of the Punjab Bar Council to apply pressure on the advocate-general to hold the election in November, 2004.

The PBC has also dispatched copies of the resolution to the members of Punjab bar council and presidents of all the bar associations in Punjab. The members of the meeting include, H. Shakil Ahmed, Chaudhry Muhammad Ashraf Wahlah, Hamid Khan, Sardar Muhammad Latif Khan Khosa, Hafiz Abdul Rehman Ansari etc.