LAHORE, Sept 12: Lawyers will observe a complete strike and surround the Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) building on the day when it will scrutinise Gen Pervez Musharraf’s nomination papers for the president’s office.

This was decided in a declaration issued after lawyers’ convention at the Punjab Bar Council (PbBC) building here on Wednesday. Lawyers’ representatives from across the province attended the convention.

The meeting demanded the lawyers from across Pakistan to boycott courts and observe a black day on the day Gen Musharraf would submit his nomination papers to the ECP, the declaration said.

“The house resolves that lawyers will remain on the frontline in their campaign against Gen Musharraf and will not miss any chance to participate in any anti-Musharraf drive,” the declaration said.

The Muttahida Qaumi Movement (MQM) was a terrorist organisation as is evident from its involvement in the May 12 bloodbath in Karachi and later its attack on the Sindh High Court (SHC) on Sept 10, it maintained.

“MQM chief Altaf Husain, Sindh CM’s Adviser on Interior Waseem Akhtar, Sindh Chief Minister Dr Arbab Ghulam Rahim, the Sindh inspector general of police and the Rangers director general should be booked for sabotaging the programme of the chief justice of pakistan (CJP),” it added.

The declaration said the MQM disrupted the proceedings of May 12 carnage probe on Sept 10, and those involved in the attack should be taken to the task.

“The house demands from Gen Musharraf, who seized power on Oct 12, 1999, and which action is punishable under Article 6 of the Constitution, to leave his offices immediately and hand over power to the true representatives of the people,” the declaration said.

“An independent election commission under an independent judiciary should hold free and transparent elections. It should be ensured that every citizen was free to vote out of his will and power would be transferred to the political party obtaining majority in the elections,” it demanded.

It sought formation of an interim government having representation of all political parties while those heading it should be kept away from the election process.

It demanded that exiled leaders be allowed to participate in the elections and demanded registration of criminal cases against rulers for sending former premier Nawaz Sharif to Saudi Arabia on Sept 10.

The declaration demanded that Qazi Husain Ahmad, Asfandyar Wali Khan, Raja Zafarul Haq, Liaquat Baloch and Mahmood Khan Achakzai be released immediately.

It said Gen Musharraf was betraying Pakistan by allowing Americans to invade the tribal areas in the name of war on terror.

“The house demands that Musharraf and coalition forces must desist from attacking the innocent people of North and South Waziristan,” it said.

The way coalition forces were resorting to brutalities in the name of war against terrorism tantamount to interference in the internal affairs of Pakistan, it added.

It demanded that Dr AQ Khan who had been unwell should be released and properly treated.

The government should abstain from interfering with lawyers’ struggle by offering benefits and plots, it warned.

“The government has failed to divide lawyers during the movement for the independence of the judiciary and would not be able to break their unity now,” it added.

It demanded registration of cases against the Sindh chief minister, the MQM chief and Advocate Khwaja Naveed Ahmad for murdering Advocate Raja Riaz Husain. It praised Munir A Malik, Supreme Court Bar Association’s outgoing president, for his role during the lawyers’ movement for supremacy of the constitution and rule of law.

Earlier, speaking on the occasion, Hamid Khan, a Pakistan Bar Council member and former SCBA president, said a dangerous situation had cropped up after the MQM’s attack on the SHC.

“Advocate Qazi Faiz told me that charged MQM workers were chanting slogans for Altaf Husain. He feared that they could barge into the offices of the chief justice and other judges.”

Hamid said: “It is one of the biggest crisis in the history of Pakistan. It is not about MQM or the chief justice, it was about the integrity of Pakistan.”

He said the country split in 1971 under a dictator and again a dictator was pushing the country to edge now.

The lawyers chanted slogans against the Lahore High Court chief justice when Hamid Khan said the Punjab’s highest court was not providing justice to the masses.

He said it was responsibility of the lawyers to defend the judiciary because the government had been intimidating the judiciary to curtail its independence. “The MQM’s attack on the SHC was carried out with the consent of General Musharraf,” he said.

He said the second phase of lawyers’ movement was again turning into a struggle to save the judiciary from the executive’s influence. He asked the lawyers to shun their differences and bind themselves together for a greater cause and to save the country.

He said the survival of the state of Pakistan stood threatened because of the government’s policies on Waziristan and Balochistan and if the country survived, it would be not less than a miracle.

Tariq Javed Warraich, PbBC vice-chairman, said the lawyers have embarked upon second phase of their movement against dictatorial regime of General Musharraf.

He said after the success of first phase of lawyers’ movement, the government was trying to divide lawyers to save its skin.

Syed Muhammad Shah, the Lahore Bar Association president, said lawyers should realise that the second phase of their movement carried more responsibility than before. “They need to protect the independent verdicts of the supreme judiciary too,” he said. He said the lawyers would not allow the lawyers siding with the government to enter barrooms. He proposed marking a day in a week to take out protest rallies against General Musharraf.

Nasim Khosa, DG Khan Bar Association president, said the attack on SHC reflected the government’s refusal to accept judiciary’s independence secured in the wake of first phase of lawyers’ movement.

Advocates Rana Naveed Irshad, Chaudhry Altaf, Salamud Din, Muhammad Iqbal, Nasir Mahmood, Malik Maqbool Hussain, Zulfiqar Bukhari and Sarfraz Cheema also spoke on the occasion.