LAHORE, Nov 7: Lawyers will observe Nov 14 as the Constitution Day. This was decided at a meeting of the Lahore High Court Bar Association here on Thursday, which had been convened to pay tributes to Supreme Court Bar Association president Hamid Khan for his efforts for restoration of the constitution and civilian rule.

Mr Hamid, who received a standing ovation on the occasion, reiterated the bar’s resolve to keep the issue of judges retirement age alive. He said the bar would resort to direct action to make its voice heard on the issue if it was not heard otherwise.

He said he had withdrawn the petition against the validity of Legal Framework Order with a heavy heart, because the bar was a part of the judicial system and wanted to ensure independence of judiciary.

He claimed that the judiciary had always supported the dictators. He said no military government would have sacked all judges of the Supreme Court if they had supported their chief justice when he refused to take oath under the Provisional Constitutional Order. However, he added, the dictatorial regime exploited “differences” among the judges and deprived the judiciary of its independence.

He said Dr Amir Aziz had been missing for quite some time, but the judiciary was not willing to take suo motu notice of his disappearance. He said that he had toured the entire country and found the lawyers community in full agreement on the point that the judges retirement age was a settled issue under the Constitution and could not be tempered with.

He said the retirement age of judges was already higher than other categories of government servants. He said the judiciary had validated the military regime for three years without asking for any favour. The regime had reciprocated the gesture by increasing their retirement age, he alleged.

Justice Malik Saeed Hassan (retired) said the bar considered that the existing setup was unconstitutional and the LFO against the interest of the country and the rule of law. He said the National Security Council would make the parliament powerless.

Mian Mohammad Jehangir said the LFO had been issued for validating all the unlawful acts of the past three years. He pointed out that the government had been denying that Hafiz Saeed was in its custody when a petition for his recovery was pending with the high court. However, he was released when the petition was withdrawn. He urged upon the judiciary to take notice of this lie.

Punjab Bar Council member Pir Masud Chishti said withdrawal of senior advocate status had only served to increase the prestige of Mr Hamid among the bar members.

Former LHCBA secretary Abid Saqi, Supreme Court Bar Association secretary Sahibzada Anwar Hamid, Punjab Bar Council vice-chairman Chaudhry Ramzan, Mohammad Taqi Khan, LHCBA secretary Shahid Mahmud Bhatti, former LHCBA vice-president Mian Sher Alam, former LHCBA president Alamgir and Ismail Qureshi also spoke on the occasion.