LAHORE, June 20: Leading representatives of the Bar urged the government on Thursday to restore the 1973 Constitution as it existed at the time of military takeover in October 1999.

Addressing a press conference, they said there was no justification for constitutional amendments on the eve of elections. The government should leave the matter to the new parliament, which has exclusive power to amend the Constitution.

In the Zafar Ali Shah case, the Supreme Court has not given unbridled authority to the government to make amendments. In particular, it was not empowered to change the basic structure of the Constitution.

Speaking on behalf of his colleagues, Lahore High Court Bar Association President Chaudhry Muzammil Khan said any amendment impairing the supremacy of parliament would not only impinge on the basic framework of the Constitution but would also violate the SC judgment in the Zafar Ali Shah case. That was why lawyers were opposed to the creation of the National Security Council.

He said extension of the tenure of the superior court judges would amount to political bribery. All public servants retire at 60 and the judges’ retirement age should also be reduced to 60.

Pakistan Bar Council members Hafiz Abdur Rehman Ansari, Raja Mahmood Akhtar and Kazim Khan said not only President Gen Pervez Musharraf should not make any amendments but should also resign before the general election to ensure fairness and impartiality of the electoral process.

Punjab Bar Council Vice-Chairman Ramzan Chaudhry clarified that the views expressed by the three lawyers were their own. The LHCBA president has already articulated the joint stand of the Bar.

LHCBA Secretary Shahid Mahmood Bhatti pointed out that there were Bar resolutions on record seeking removal of the chief election commissioner. He said all those who violated the Constitution should be tried under its Article 6.

The LHCBA president urged the Lahore High Court chief justice to take up and decide a writ petition moved in 1989 to challenge the establishment of the court’s Multan, Rawalpindi and Bahawalpur benches. He opposed any move to set up a bench at Faisalabad.

Supreme Court Bar Association Secretary Sahibzada Anwar Hamid, LHCBA Vice-President Khawar Ikram Bhatti and finance secretary Tanvir Mahmood Chaudhry and Punjab Bar Council members Chaudhry Ahsan Bhoon and Ramzan Khalid Joiya were also present at the press conference.