LAHORE, Aug 16: The Pakistan Bar Council will seek a firm commitment from political parties to undo all the constitutional amendments made by the military government since October 1999, lawyers’ representatives said here on Friday.

Addressing a press conference on the eve of the PBC-sponsored joint meeting of representatives of lawyers and political parties scheduled for Saturday, they said the parties would also be requested to undertake to repeal the Referendum Order of April 2002 after the parliamentary polls and hold a presidential election in accordance with the constitutional provisions.

Pakistan Bar Council vice-chairman Chaudhry Ashraf Wahla, executive committee chairman Abdul Haleem Pirzada and members Hamid Khan, Latif Khan Khosa and Kazim Khan; Punjab Bar Council vice-chairman Ramazan Chaudhry; Lahore High Court Bar Association president Chaudhry Muzzammil Khan and secretary Shahid Mahmood Bhatti; Sindh Bar Council member Imdad Awan; and Lahore Bar Association president Nisar Ali Kausar were present at the press conference.

Among the parties attending the joint meeting are Pakistan Muslim League (Nawaz), Pakistan People’s Party, PML (Quaid-i-Azam), Jamaat-i-Islami, Tehrik-i-Insaaf, Muttahida Qaumi Movement, Awami National Party, Millat Party and Pakistan Awami Tehrik. The meeting will be held in the LHCBA’s Karachi Shuhada Hall. It will start at 10am and continue till afternoon.

Ashraf Wahla and Hamid Khan said the deliberations would not be confined to constitutional amendments and the participants would be free to discuss the whole gamut of political and legal issues with particular reference to the upcoming polls. Haleem Pirzada said the parties should make the most of the opportunity offered by the elections and enter the legislative assemblies to restore the Constitution in its original shape.