The lawyers’ strike continued their protest against the suspension of Chief Justice of Pakistan Iftikhar Hussain Chaudhry. The lawyers did not appear in court, the judges remained in their chambers and the under trial prisoners (UTP) were sent to the prisons. The KBA and Sindh High Court Bar Associations also announced a total strike on Monday.
In the evening, KBA members blocked M.A. Jinnah Road for half an hour and staged a sit-in. The KBA members said they would hold a protest meeting in front of Karachi Press Club to express solidarity with journalists and also march till CM House to protest. They also decided to observe a full day’s strike on Monday.
Three lawyers sat on a token hunger strike in the Sindh High Court. They were General Secretary Democratic Lawyers Association Shaukat Hayat, Member Executive Committee SHCBA Azizuddin Qureshi and Irfan Siddiqui.
A statement issued after a meeting of the Sindh Bar Council Executive Committee was held with its chairman Fazal Qadir Memon at SBC. The meeting cancelled the membership of Mehfooz Yar Khan Advocate for violation of discipline. The membership of Sheikh Rehmatullah had already been cancelled for filing a petition against the president of Supreme Court Bar Association. Three other lawyers Aftab Yar Khan, Syed Tehseen, and Shafqat Hussain Kamalani submitted applications to the committee and assured that they would abide by the rules and discipline and would follow policies of lawyers’ associations for independence of judiciary and against the government.
Nine members of the KBA managing committee sat on a token hunger strike from 10am to 4pm. To express solidarity with journalists they extended the token strike by an hour till 5pm. The lawyers who sat on hunger strike were Mohammad Saleem Ghazali, Abdul Hafeez Baloch, K.K. Javed, Suhail Jabbar, Adil Khan, Jamshed Ahmed Shaikh, Khairun Nisa, Salim Kairio and Imran Mohammad Iqbal.
Lawyers gathered in front of the city courts set fire to portraits of President Pervez Musharraf and US President George W. Bush and raised slogans condemning the suspension of Chief Justice of Pakistan (CJP) Iftikhar Mohammad Chaudhry.
The KBA President, Iftikhar Javed Qazi, General Secretary Naeem Qureshi, Salim Zia, Mohammad Naseer Abbasi, Shahadat Awan, Mushtaq Awan, Khalid Mumtaz, Mohammad Ali Abbasi, Iqbal Aqeel, Mehmodul Hassan, Mohammad Jiwani, Tariq Niazi, Aman Sherin Khattak, Munsif Jan Mohammad, Commander Riaz, Mushtaq Jehangiri, Lal Shah, Arshad Jadoon, Umer Baloch, Samad Khan and Nahid Afzal spoke on the occasion.
The speakers criticised the government’s policies and said both the judiciary and the media were targeted in violation of the constitution, rule of law and principle of freedom of press. They said their protest movement was meant to uphold the dignity of the judiciary, rule of law and integrity of the country.
“If Musharraf forbids us to indulge politics he too should not indulge in politics, especially when he is in military uniform,” they said. They added that the Quaid-e-Azam Mohammad Ali Jinnah who founded the country was also a lawyer and a politician. They said that the attacks on media showed the entire world that there was no freedom of expression in Pakistan and those forces exposing the government were being targeted.
They criticised federal information minister Mohammad Ali Durrani, law minister Wasi Zafar and railway minister Sheikh Rasheed Ahmed for, what they described, using derogative language against lawyers and journalists. “Two judges of the Supreme Judicial Council have lost confidence of the CJP, and they should resign,” Mohammad Ali Abbasi said.
The KBA President said Raja Qureshi’s membership from the bar was cancelled for violation and said those who accepted the Sindh chief minister’s invitations for lunch or dinner would also be rusticated from the bar. He added that the prosecutors should not violate discipline otherwise their entry into the courts would be banned.
The lawyers marched in a procession inside the court premises and chanted slogans against the government, Punjab police and Sindh chief minister.