LAHORE, May 16: An all party conference convened by the Muttahida Majlis-i-Amal, Punjab, here on Wednesday appealed to the supreme court to take suo motu notice of criminal neglect of the Sindh government and law enforcing agencies resulting in the killing of innocent people on the visit of Chief Justice of Pakistan to Karachi on May 12.
The conference, held with MMA deputy secretary general MNA Liaquat Baloch in the chair, also decided to continue support to the struggle of the lawyers for the supremacy of judiciary and constitute a joint action committee for organising a strike against dictatorship every week. It also demanded accountability of the elements involved in the killing of people and damaging property in Karachi.
PML-N MNAs Khwaja Saad Rafiq and Pervez Malik said the opposition should unite on one point agenda of end of dictatorship for getting rid of the government which had become weak and unpopular after May 12.
They said the Karachi incidents were the worst example of terrorism and the entire nation had joined condemnation by participating in the strike against it the next day.
Awami National Party secretary general Ehsan Wyne said May 12 incidents were pre-planned. The government could have prevented the CJP from boarding the plane if it wanted to avoid bloodshed.
He said 21 ANP workers had lost their lives in Karachi on May 12.
Punjab Tehrik-i-Insaaf president Ahsan Rashid said the opposition should unite to provide leadership to the people who were fed up with the government policies.
He said MQM leadership Altaf Husain was responsible for terrorism in Karachi. The menace would continue till he was brought to the book.
Shafiq Kasuri said the reaction of people against the killings had forced the MQM to seek a cover. People were being killed in Karachi but President Musharraf was addressing a hired crowd in Islamabad for a show of force.
He said the country would not be rid of dictatorship till all the political parties vowed not to support the army for power.
Former vice-chairman of Pakistan Bar Council Hafiz Abdul Rehman Ansari said the lawyers supporting and representing the government had been expelled from the bars and an FIR would be lodged against President Musharraf, Sindh governor and chief minister on the charges of killing of innocent people in Karachi.
Lahore Bar Association President Syed Muhammad Shah said the lawyers throughout the country would boycott the court proceedings every Thursday in accordance with the decision of the All Pakistan Lawyers Action Committee. Lawyers in Lahore would take out a procession from the Aiwan-i-Adl to the Punjab Assembly every Thursday.
Supreme Court Bar Association secretary general Zulfiqar Bokhari said the Sindh government could not absolve itself of the responsibility for loss of life in Karachi as it transferred the police officers three days before the visit of CJP and unarmed the police a day earlier. The MQM assumed control of the city and blocked the roads leading to Sindh High Court and airport as a result.
He said lawyers were playing their role for the restoration of rule of law but the political parties were not playing their due role.
Lahore High Court Bar Association secretary general Sarfraz Rahim said political parties should continue supporting the struggle of the lawyers and joining their rallies.
Jamiat Ulema-i-Pakistan secretary general Qari Zawwar Bahadar said the political parties should vow that they would not support the generals or strike any deal with the MQM. JUP vice-president Syed Mahfooz Mashhadi said the opposition should quit assemblies and a strike should be observed against the government every Friday.
Khaksar Tehrik president Hamiduddin al-Mashriqi said President Musharraf had filed the reference against the CJP for protecting his unconstitutional rule.
He said Benazir Bhutto and Nawaz Sharif should return to lead the people.
Aaj bureau chief Noman Yawar said media was being targeted due to absence of democratic culture in the country.
Syed Naubahar Shah said the government squandered billions of rupees for renting a crowd for show of force in Islamabad on May 12.
Jamiat-i-Mashaikh secretary general Pir Fazle Haq said the MQM had been formed to counter the religious parties in Karachi.
MNA Samia Raheel Qazi said the Peshawar bomb blast was meant for diverting attention from killings in Karachi.
Farid Piracha and Hafiz Salman Butt said the opposition would not accept another general in place of Pervez Musharraf.