LAHORE, July 15: Chief Justice Iftikhar Mohammad Chaudhry has said that any change in the prevailing situation of the country depends on the restoration of the Constitution.

“If the 1973 Constitution is not restored, status quo will continue in the country,” he told a large gathering of lawyers and civil society members at the District Courts here on Sunday morning.

Justice Iftikhar shortened his speech because of rain and copies of his complete address were distributed among the participants. The topic of his speech was “Constitution and Democratic Origin of Pakistan”.

The CJP was to address the District Bar Association at 6pm on Saturday. His plane landed at the airport at 3pm. But due to a large crowd waiting for him along both sides of his route, the CJ’s caravan took 12 hours to reach the place which on normal days is an hour-long distance from the airport.

Justice Iftikhar said the Constitution was the basic law of any country and abiding by it was necessary for progress. He said the main characteristic of the Constitution was that it enjoyed the trust of the whole nation and everyone holding any office in the country was bound to abide by it. He said state institutions could not discharge their responsibilities in the absence of an independent judiciary.

Calling for strengthening of democratic institutions, he said politics in the country had always been unsteady and the journey of democracy was full of abrogation, discontinuation and suspension of the Constitution.

“No other system except democracy could work in Pakistan and, therefore, the restoration of democracy and the Constitution is all the more necessary. No institution should interfere in professional affairs of any other institution,” Justice Iftikhar said.

The CJP said he was visiting the city for a second time and observed that people were extending him more love than before.

Deputy prosecutor-general Abdul Lateef Hinjra, who had earlier tendered his resignation from the office, presented a copy of his resignation to the chief justice.

Senior counsel Ali Ahmed Kurd said the struggle launched by lawyers with the help of civil society had brought the chief justice from the presidency to the court of masses. He said the movement would continue till the reinstatement of the chief justice.

CJ’s lead counsel Aitzaz Ahsan said that at the successful end of the movement for independence of the judiciary, lawyers and political parties would draft a new social contract ensuring protection of rights of every citizen. Problems of the masses would be solved through this new contract, he added.

He expressed the hope that the present reception in Lahore would turn out to be the last one as the Supreme Court was likely to decide CJ’s case this week.

Earlier, Justice Iftikhar was accorded a warm welcome on his arrival at the bar. Lawyers, political activists and civil society members, who have been waiting for the CJ whole night, showered petals on him.

They chanted slogans against President Musharraf.