LAHORE, March 13: Supreme Court Bar Association President Aitzaz Ahsan has said the presidency was offering to restore all 43 judges, deposed in the wake of Nov 3 emergency, except Chief Justice Iftikhar Mohammad Chaudhry.

Addressing traders at the Liberty Market here on Thursday after arriving straight from a reception given in his honour by traders and lawyers in Gujranwala, Mr Ahsan said the judges would not take oath without Justice Iftikhar Mohammad Chaudhry.

Traders, lawyers, students and people from all walks of life gathered to hear Mr Ahsan and chanted slogans against Gen Musharraf (retired).

Mr Ahsan said: "If they took oath (without Justice Chaudhry), they would be considered the PCO judges and I would be dubbed Sharifuddin Peerzada - which I don't really appreciate."

He said that he had repeatedly told questioners that he was not trying to pressurise political parties but maintaining momentum for the restoration of the deposed judges.

The lawyers, he said, never wanted the parliament to pass a resolution for the restoration of the judges but it was significant because it would show parliamentary support to the executive order the government would make to restore the judges.

He added the lawyers did not want to launch a long march but would have to take the step if the next government failed to restore the judges.

He said if the Supreme Court, handpicked by Gen Musharraf (retired) issued any order against the process of the restoration of the judges the lawyers would converge from all over Pakistan and take to Rawalpindi. "We will lay a siege around the residence of the COAS, which was being illegally occupied by a retired general," Mr Ahsan said.

Mr Ahsan thanked the traders, who, he said, had been welcoming the chief justice and his caravan during the March 9 movement. He added now things had changed as the traders had formally joined hands with the lawyers and the civil society.

United, they would make the movement a success to remember after coming out on the roads and observing a shutter-down strike from Khyber to Karachi, he said. At this juncture, traders announced that they would hold a shutter-down strike whenever Mr Ahsan gave a call for the restoration of the deposed judges.

Mr Ahsan said anyone stating that the parliament required two-thirds majority to undo Musharraf's steps was providing legitimacy to illegalities done. General Musharraf (retired) was a culprit and people would make sure that he did not escape in case he tried to hatch a conspiracy against the parliament's plan to the restore the judges. He said the chief justice was deposed because he was providing relief to the poor and those who had no one to turn to. He added in his courtroom the girl, raped in Tharpakr, was provided relief and the police high-ups shivered out of fear of doing wrong. He said the lawyers not only wanted to restore the judges, but make every judicial officer follow in the steps of Justice Iftikhar Mohammad Chaudhry. The core objective was to provide justice to a society where might was right and make the parliament a sovereign and independent organ of the state, he added.

On the occasion, Pakistan Bar Council ex-vice chairman Ali Ahmad Kurd said generals like Pervez Musharraf were guilty of snatching the objective of creating the Pakistan. He added people had in their hearts the dream of creating a welfare state, where they could live with dignity and honour.

"Our struggle is to give these people back their dreams," he said. He added Gen Musharraf was guilty of curtailing the freedom of the press and handpicking a parliament, which served as a rubber-stamp.

He said the parliament did not enact a single law aimed at the welfare of people and brought about shame to itself by passing the 17th Amendment. He warned the Supreme Court not to pass any order against the process of restoration of the judges.

Representatives of traders, Lahore High Court Bar Association president Anwar Kamal, Lahore Bar Association president Manzoor Qadir and SCBA media adviser Mohammad Azhar were also present on the occasion.