LAHORE, Oct 13: Leaders of the lawyers community say that an ‘independent’ tribunal of senior jurists will try all those who have collaborated in pushing Pakistan into a deep constitutional and democratic crisis.
“Those who do not want to cast off uniform and separate the political office (of the president) from the military attire; those who have given judicial support and held fraud referendum cannot escape punishment,” Supreme Court Bar Association president Hamid Khan, Pakistan Bar Council vice-chairperson Qazi Anwar and other Bar leaders said.
They were speaking at receptions hosted by various Bar associations en-route the lawyers’ first-ever “long march” on Islamabad on Monday.
The receptions were held at Ferozewala, Gujranwala, Wazirabad, Gujrat, Kharian, Sarai Alamgir, Jhelum, Sohawa and Gujar Khan before the participants made an overnight stay at Rawalpindi. They said the movement would continue till the objectives were achieved.
Mr Hamid Khan said a national convention of lawyers at the Supreme Court building in Islamabad on Tuesday would work out the next phase of the legal fraternity’s movement against the Legal Framework Order (LFO) and other issues concerning the revival of the constitution as it stood before the military takeover on Oct 12, 1999.
Reports reaching here suggest that lawyers at all the places on GT Road gave rousing reception to their leaders. They left Lahore at around 9.30am and reached Rawalpindi in the evening. Representatives of the Bar associations and Bar councils and other activists from across the country formed the caravan for the long march which left the Lahore High Court building amidst slogans like “No Musharraf no”, “Go Musharraf go” and “LFO is unacceptable”.
Carrying national flags, the participants of the caravan paraded within the Lahore High Court premises before they rode vans and cars which left for Rawalpindi en-route the G T Road. National flags and banners, inscribed with slogans against the LFO and the extension of the judges retirement age, were displayed on the vehicles.
Participants also came from different Bar associations in the Punjab and some other Bars sent messages that they would join en-route to Rawalpindi. They are scheduled to leave for Islamabad on Tuesday morning (today).
The march has been sponsored by lawyers Joint Action Committee which met here on Sunday evening and finalized details to their action. The meeting was attended among others by Pakistan Bar Council vice-chairperson Qazi Anwar, Supreme Court Bar Association president Hamid Khan and Joint Action Committee chairperson Kazim Khan, Munawwar Ali Abbasi of the Karachi Bar Association, Mustafa Lakhani and Aqil Lodhi of the Sindh High Court Bar Association, Sher Afgan and Naeem Jan from the Peshawar High Court Bar Association, Mohsin Javed of the Balochistan Bar Council, Hafiz Abdur Rehman Ansari from the Lahore High Bar Association and Raja Sajjad Ahmad of the Azad Jammu and Kashmir Bar Council.
Talking to Dawn Supreme Court Bar Association president Hamid Khan said the military government had undermined the constitution and constitutional institutions including parliament and the judiciary. The issue of the LFO remained unresolved as a result of which Pakistan was facing a constitutional and political crisis.
Mr Khan said the lawyers’ movement was aimed at the restoration of the constitution. He said the extension in judges’ retirement age had reduced the superior judiciary to a hireling of the executive. The SCBA, he said, wanted parliament to debate the LFO as it alone could amend it.
The constitution of the National Security Council, the issue of the president in uniform and the restoration of the president’s power to dissolve the National Assembly under article 58(2)B, are some other areas of concern for the legal fraternity.
Hamid Khan said the long march was a phased action and the journey to Islamabad for a national convention of lawyers was its first phase. Similar marches would be undertaken from other provincial capitals in subsequent phases.