LAHORE, Nov 6: As a token of respect and recognition of the courage shown by the superior courts judges who refused to take oath under the PCO, the Jamaat-i-Islami has begun presenting them bouquets.

Lahore High Court’s senior most judge Justice Khwaja Muhammad Sharif was the first one to receive the bouquet on Tuesday.

A team of Jamaat leaders led by central information secretary Amirul Azim and Hafiz Salman Butt went to the residence of Justice Sharif to present the bouquet along with commending messages from their senior high command as well as representatives of various walks of life.

Police guard outside Justice Sharif’s residence refused to let the visitors in or the host to come out.

Some journalists accompanying the visitors however managed to sneak in and talk to the incarcerated judge.

Justice Khwaja Sharif said for the first time in the 60-year history the judiciary had shunned official pressure to give judgments in accordance with the law and their conscience. But, he lamented, that the establishment had committed a naked aggression against the judiciary.

He said the judges who rejected oath under PCO had actually upheld the constitution and law of the land. He said Gen Musharraf should step down with the Senate chairman replacing him as per constitutional requirement.

The judge was concerned at what he said systematic trampling and destruction of state institutions and security of the country.

Outside the residence, Azim told his team that the judges who had refused to comply with unconstitutional orders had become heroes of the nation as they withstood dictatorial pressure and threats to their own lives and to their families.