ISLAMABAD, May 26: A large number of emotionally-charged lawyers, political and social activists on Saturday held protest demonstration on Constitution Avenue for more than five hours and then saw Chief Justice Iftikhar Mohammad Chaudhry and others addressing a seminar at the Supreme Court Auditorium live on big TV screens.
Though political workers and activists from almost all major opposition parties were present outside the Supreme Court building with their party flags, the absence of the main leadership of the political parties, except the Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N), was noticed by the local and international media.
The lawyers, who had come from different parts of the country to hear the chief justice, once again kept themselves at a distance from political parties. The chief justice, who was scheduled to address the seminar at 5pm, arrived on Constitution Avenue at about 8:30pm and was taken to the Supreme Court building in the form of a torch-bearing procession.
Heavy contingents of capital police were deployed at various places in the vicinity of the Supreme Court but they did not stop anyone from going to the main venue.
The most impressive and organised show was organised by the PML-N and most of its senior leaders remained outside the Supreme Court building throughout the time. The People’s Party Parliamentarians (PPP), which kept itself away from the grand opposition meeting on Friday, was led by its secretary-general Raja Pervez Ashraf while the party workers remained scattered.
All the opposition parties though had gathered for a common cause of expressing solidarity with the chief justice held separate meetings. Interestingly, some of the PML-N activists were carrying placards inscribed with slogan “Go Musharraf Go and Go MMA Go”.
Throughout the time, the angry protesters kept on raising slogans against the government, army and Gen Pervez Musharraf. In their slogans, the protesters demanded restoration of democracy, withdrawal of reference against the chief justice and end of military rule in the country. Some of the protesters were carrying placards demanding 80 per cent reduction in army.
The lawyers also chanted slogans against Muttahida Qaumi Movement (MQM) and held it responsible for the May 12 bloodshed in Karachi.
Prominent among those present on the occasion were PML-N chairman Raja Zafarul Haq, Chaudhry Nisar Ali Khan, Iqbal Zafar Jhagra, Saadia Abbasi, Khawaja Asif, Khawaja Saad Rafiq, Ahsan Iqbal, Raja Pervez Ashraf, Farzana Raja, Mehreen Anwer Raja, Abida Hussain, Zamarrud Khan, Ibne Rizvi, Nargis Faiz Malik, Palwasha Behram, Syed Kashif Rizvi and Manzoor Wassan.