ISLAMABAD, Feb 8: Lawyers will observe March 1 as Peace Day and hold seminars, rallies and meetings as part of an awareness campaign to influence the public opinion and force the rulers not to support United State attack on Iraq.

Supreme Court Bar Association President Hamid Khan told newsmen on Saturday at the Supreme Court that the SCBA would hold a seminar to create awareness about how the United Nations charter and international laws were being violated and the authority of the Security Council usurped.

“Rallies will be staged at UN offices in every city to mobilize public opinion to force the government to take a stand in accordance with people’s aspirations and to vote in the Security Council against a resolution for military action against Iraq,” he said.

The SCBA appealed to the parliamentarians to pressure the government to summon a session of the National Assembly and adopt an unanimous resolution against any military action against Iraq.

The parliamentarians should force the government to reconstitute its foreign policy, it said.

Hamid Khan was flanked by Punjab Bar Council Vice-Chairman Arif Chaudhry, Balochistan Bar Association President Ali Ahmad Kurd, Lahore High Court Bar Association Secretary Shahid Mahmood Bhatti, Peshawar District Bar Association President Sher Afgan Khattak, Pakistan Bar Council Vice-Chairman Mian Abbas and PBC Executive Committee Chairman Mohammad Kazim Khan.

Members of the PBC, provincial bar councils and the SCBA, presidents of bar associations and ambassadors of the UNSC member countries would be invited to the seminar, likely to be held at a hotel. The recommendations of the seminar would be submitted before the UN and the country’s missions abroad, they said.

They urged the members of the Security Council to play their role and said the existence of the council and the UN charter were under threat due to the policies of the US.

The UN had a great responsibility because the world peace rested on it and if a wrong resolution was adopted in favour of a US attack on Iraq, it would become redundant, they said.

Replying to a question, they said most of the Muslim countries were weak and the SCBA did not expect any response from them.

They alleged that by supporting the attack on Afghanistan, the country had become a US lackey and Gen Pervez Musharraf would damage his reputation if he supported the attack on Iraq.

They said the government should convince the world that any attack would bring suffering to the children and women of Iraq and supporting a resolution for attack on Iraq would mean becoming a partner in the execution of US agenda.

The SCBA chief said the association had adopted the resolutions passed during the meeting organized by the PBC on Feb 1, declaring that the Legal Framework Order was not a part of the Constitution.