LAHORE, July 23: The Lahore High Court Bar Association on Monday demanded, through a unanimous resolution, appointment of Justice Jawad S Khwaja as judge of the Supreme Court.

Justice Khwaja had resigned to register protest against the suspension of Chief Justice Iftikhar Muhammad Chaudhry and torture of lawyers on the LHC premises on March 17.

It also demanded rejection of resignations of all those judges who had decided to quit as a protest against the issue, demanding their immediate reinstatement.

It also conferred the LHCBA life membership on Justice Khalilur Rehman Ramday, the chief judge of the 13-member larger bench which restored the CJP to his office in a landmark decision on Friday last.

The bar also declared null and void the resolution which had been moved against Justice Ramday back on Dec 12, 1998.

It sought judicial inquiry into the May 12 killings in Karachi and demonstration of ‘state terrorism’ on the LHC premises on March 17, and action against those found responsible.

The LHCBA paid tributes to all those judges of high courts who had spirited the lawyers’ movement for an independent judiciary by taking part in receptions for the CJP.

Earlier, president Ahsan Bhoon, secretary Sarfraz Cheema and other speakers said the July 20 verdict had not only heightened the judiciary’s status, but also removed the stain on Punjab that it had been a tool in the hands of the establishment.