KARACHI, July 20: The legal fraternity on Friday said their agitation had come to an end with the reinstatement of the Chief Justice of Pakistan, Iftikhar Mohammad Chaudhry, but the movement for the complete independence of the judiciary would continue.
Speaking at a hurriedly called press conference at the committee room of the City Courts, President of the Karachi Bar Association Iftikhar Javaid Qazi, Vice-President Qadir Khan and General-Secretary Naeem Qureshi said the Supreme Court’s verdict for the reinstatement of the chief justice was a historic decision.
They said it was for the first time that about 80,000 lawyers across the country had run a four-month-long campaign for the independence of the judiciary, saying that journalists deserved the same appreciation for their full support to the movement.
The lawyers paid rich tribute to all those who sacrificed their lives for the independence of the judiciary and those who were injured as a result of police violence. They demanded probes into the May 12 mayhem, Lal Masjid operation, and bomb blasts which have taken many precious lives.
They recalled the police violence against lawyers and political activists in Karachi, Sahiwal, Lahore, Islamabad, and other cities and said that the entire nation gave sacrifices for the cause.
It was pointed out that the judiciary was still under the influence of the executive as it had no separate budget, no police force to get its decisions implemented, while the judges were always in need of residences, conveyance and other facilities.
It was demanded of the chief justice of the Sindh High Court to extend the courts’ timing for an hour daily so that both the lawyers and litigants could cover the time lost during the lawyers’ campaign.
Following the press conference, the lawyers took out a procession from the City Courts and marched on M.A. Jinnah Road. They set ablaze an effigy of President Pervez Musharraf and shouted pro-judiciary and anti-government slogans.
Meanwhile, the lawyers’ wings of various political parties and other lawyers’ bodies have expressed their satisfaction over the Supreme Court’s decision.
Sindh High Court Bar Association President Abrar Hasan and Joint-Secretary Ahmed Nafees Osmani have also welcomed the judgement of the Supreme Court and termed it a victory of the lawyers and 160 million people.
Prior to the announcement of the Supreme Court’s decision restoring the chief justice, lawyers observed a boycott of court proceedings from 10.30am to 11.30am against the suspension of the CJ.