PESHAWAR, April 27: Political parties on Friday took out rallies across Khyber Pakhtunkhwa and Federally Administered Tribal Areas in favour of and against the Supreme Court verdict of convicting Prime Minster Yousaf Raza Gilani of contempt.

In Peshawar, Pakistan People’s Party workers led by provincial information secretary Ayub Shah, labour leader Shah Zulqarnain and senior activist Zulfiqar Afghani blocked GT Road, burnt tyres and marched on it.

The rally disrupted vehicular traffic on the city’s busiest road for quite some time.

Protesters shouted anti-court slogans and said they would give all kinds of sacrifices in support of the government.

Another demonstration was held by People’s Students Federation workers outside the Peshawar High Court building. Led by Fahim Khattak, they burnt tyres bringing traffic on the Courts’ Road to a halt.

Another rally was staged on Sher Shah Suri Road near the press club with PSF, Peshawar, president Sad Waqas and People’s Youth Organisation, Peshawar, president Jehangir Khan, general secretary Misbahuddin and city president Issa Khan leading it.Using ‘abusive language’ against Chief Justice of Pakistan Iftikhar Mohammad Chaudhry, protesters described the prime minister’s conviction an anti-democracy verdict and said the prime minister had proved that jiyalas (PPP workers) were not afraid of judiciary and dictators.

Holding placards and banners carrying messages in favour of the prime minister, they shouted slogans against the chief justice and the judiciary.

However, Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz workers led by provincial leaders Haji Afzal, Khadim Ali Khan and Mamriz Mian drove motorcycles on the city roads to show support to the Supreme Court over the conviction verdict.

Also in the day, PML-N, women wing, Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, took out a rally for the court saying it supported the award of the sentence to the prime minister and that after conviction, Mr Gilani was no more the prime minister.

“The court has convicted him and therefore, he stands disqualified for the office of the prime ministers,” said PML-N MPA Shazia Aurangzeb at the rally outside the cantonment railway station.

Mr Shazia said on one hand, PPP leaders claimed to be respecting the Supreme Court but on the other, they were confronting it and that such a conduct could harm democracy and the country.

Throughout the rally, participants of the rally kept shouting with one voice ‘convicted prime minister is not acceptable’.

Also in the city, PPP minister and Nowshera president Liaquat Shabab spoke to a news conference at the press club and alleged that the Supreme Court verdict against the prime minister was based on a ‘mala fide intent’.

“The judges, who took oath under provisional constitutional order, are morally bound to tender resignation as they have no right to hear the cases,” he said, adding that the court’s verdict against the prime minister was a ‘conspiracy against democracy’.

He said PPP would appeal the sentence and that its workers were so upset that they couldn’t be stopped from holding rallies and demonstrations against the verdict.

“We should not be taught the lessons of morality. Those, who took oath under PCO twice, are now sitting as the chief justice. They should first take care of morality and then teach lessons of morality to others,” he said.

Mr Shabab alleged that conspiracies had been hatched against PPP for long but it would continue trying to thwart them. He said PPP founder and former prime minister Zulfikar Ali Bhutto was a victim of the court decision.

The minister said people had rejected the verdict by coming onto the streets and voting for a PPP candidate in Multan.

“The case in which the prime minister was convicted is the same in which President Zardari was subjected to eight years long imprisonment by the Nawaz Sharif and Pervez Musharraf governments though the allegations against him couldn’t be proved,” he said.

He said as for the National Reconciliation Ordinance (NRO) case, the chief justice had himself ordered that over 8,000 cases under it would be reopened including those of the Swiss Banks, which clearly showed the mala fide intentions of the court against President Zardari and PPP leadership.

The minister said the judiciary had never sprung into action against military dictators and rather supported them and showed them the way towards the power corridors through doctrine of necessity. He said almost all political parties, civil society organisations and people had struggled for restoration of free and fair judiciary but unfortunately, it could not deliver to the expectations of 180 million people.

He said it happened for the first time in the country’s history that a sitting prime minister appeared before the court thrice as an accused and that showed that PPP being the single largest party of the country had always respected judiciary but that didn’t mean that it would give up the struggle for its legal and constitutional rights.

The minister said the judiciary should compensate Mr Zardari for his eight years illegal imprisonment.

In Karak, PPP workers held a demonstration against the sentence to the prime minister in the contempt of court case and declared the verdict a ‘conspiracy against democratic system’.

Demonstrators led by PPP district president Khursheed Khattak and former district president Jabbar Khattak marched through bazaars and converged on Saddam Chowk where PPP leaders addressed them and reposed full confidence in the prime minister and the president and said they were ready for any kind of sacrifice for democracy.

Protesters later blocked Karak-Bannu Road.

In Khar area of Bajaur Agency, too, PPP workers staged demonstration against the prime minister’s conviction.

The demonstration was organised in front of Bajaur Press Club, where hundreds of workers, local elders and office-bearers of PPP, PSF, PPP Youth Wing and People’s Teachers Association showed up.

They shouted slogans in favour of the prime minister and against the Supreme Court verdict.

PPP, Fata, senior vice president Haji Khan Mohammad, PPP local chapter president Aurangzeb, PPP, Bajaur, general secretary Khan Bahadar and leader Mian Sadaat Yar addressed protesters and said the verdict against the prime minister was against democracy and that was contempt of people’s mandate given to PPP to serve the country.

They said the verdict was ‘part of a conspiracy against PPP government’ and that ‘some elements in the country don’t want that the PPP government continue serving people’.

In Ghalanai area of Mohmand Agency, too, PPP workers protested the prime minister’s conviction by taking out a rally from Main Ghallanai Bazaar to Mohmand Press Club.

PPP, Fata, president Malik Waris Khan Afridi, PPP, Fata, vice president Jangrez Khan and PPP, Mohmand Agency, president Dr Farooq Afzal addressed the protesters, who shouted slogans against Chief Justice Iftikhar Muhammad Chaudhry and burnt tyres on the main Peshawar-Bajaur Road.

Malik Waris Khan termed Mr Gilani’s conviction ‘political trial of the elected prime minister’ and said it was an insult to parliament.