PESHAWAR, March 20: Justice Iftikhar Mohammad Chaudhry and all those judges who resigned in protest against the action taken against him have been invited to an All Pakistan Lawyers’ Convention to be held here on March 22.
The lawyers’ community here hailed the bold step taken by Justice Jawad S. Khwaja of the Lahore High Court and other judges and announced honorary membership of the Peshawar High Court Bar Association (PHCBA) and Peshawar District Bar Association (PDBA) for them.
The lawyers also observed a one-hour-long strike and took out a procession from the high court. The protesters were carrying banners and placards inscribed with slogans against President Pervez Musharraf and the government. They were also raising anti-government slogans.
A joint meeting of the NWFP Bar Council, the PHCBA and the PDBA was held here under the chairmanship of Syed Attique Shah, the outgoing PHCBA president.
The participants of the meeting discussed the arrangements made for the convention and constituted various committees, including press and publication committee, administrative committee, surveillance committee and reception committee.
Later, Mr Shah, president PDBA Fida Gul and NWFP Bar Council member Kifayat Ali Khan addressed a press conference at the Peshawar Press Club.
They asked the members of bar associations in the province to take an active part in the proceedings of the convention.
Invitations have also been sent to the office-bearers and members of the Supreme Court Bar Association as well as the bar councils in Sindh, Punjab and Balochistan, they said.
The meeting condemned the attack on the office of a private television channel and termed it an attack on the freedom of media, they said, adding that the meeting also condemned police action against lawyers in Lahore three days ago.
Mr Shah hailed the role of media in the ongoing judicial crisis and said it exposed the designs of the government against the judiciary.
The participants paid rich tribute to Justice Jawad and other judges and said their sacrifice would be remembered for a long time to time. They said these judges had scarified their posts for the independence of the judiciary.
BAR POLLS: Two senior lawyers Abdul Lateef Afridi of Awami National Party and Abdul Sattar Khan of Pakistan Muslim League (Nawaz) are in the run for key post of Peshawar High Court Bar Association’s president in the annual elections to be held on March 31.
One-to-one contest will be held for five posts of the cabinet between candidates of the tripartite alliance of lawyers’ wings affiliated with the Pakistan People’s Party, PML-N and Muttahida Majlis-i-Amal and the Malgaray Wakeelan affiliated with the ANP.
Mian Abdul Fayyaz of the alliance and Naveed Akhter of Malgaray Wakeelan have been contesting for the post of vice-president.
Ishtiaq Ibraheem of Malgaray Wakeelan and Mohammad Khurshid Khan of PPP are vying for the slot of secretary-general.
For the post of joint secretary, Barrister Waqar Ali Khan of Malgaray Wakeelan and Shahid Qayyum of the alliance have been contesting, whereas Haji Sher Bahadur and Arshid Ali are in the run for the post of treasurer.
Jalaluddin Khan has already been elected unopposed as library secretary.
The five executive council members have also been elected unopposed.
They are: Nasruminallah and Fazli Akbar from Peshawar, Zeb Alam Khan from Mardan, Mujahid Farooq from Malakand and Khurshid Ahmad from Kohat.
Polling will be held from 8:00am till 3:30pm at four polling stations to be set up in Peshawar, Mardan, Swat and Kohat districts.
The election commission declared 1,056 members eligible for casting votes after they cleared their dues before the fixed date.
The voters in different districts include 624 from Peshawar, 139 from Swat, 79 from Mardan, 60 from Charssada, 56 from Kohat, 39 from Swabi and 28 from Nowshera.
The election commission comprises the commissioner Khwaja Mohammad Khan Gara, and its members Syed Sardar Hussain, Khizar Hayat and Bilal Durrani.