ISLAMABAD, Sept 4: Police on Thursday baton-charged protesting lawyers when they defied an earlier understanding and tried to enter the Supreme Court premises. Three lawyers were injured.
According to the understanding, the lawyers were to stage two-hour “dharna” outside the Parliament House in protest against government’s foot-dragging over reinstatement of the deposed judges.
But towards the end of Thursday’s protest organised by representative bodies of the legal fraternity on the call of the National Coordination Council (NCC), a group of lawyers tried to scale the gates of the apex court after removing rolls of barbed wires.
A brief scuffle followed when police tried to stop the lawyers from breaking the barrier and the administration ordered a baton-charge to push the lawyers back.
The administration also sought the help of Supreme Court Bar Association’s president and newly elected chairman of the NCC Aitzaz Ahsan and other leaders Tariq Mehmood, Sardar Asmatullah and Haroonul Rashid, to intervene and persuade the lawyers to return to the main gathering.
Later a district magistrate of the Islamabad Capital Territory claimed that senior officers of the civil administration and police also suffered injuries during the brawl.
During the procession, the lawyers raised slogans against PPP co-chairperson Asif Ali Zardari. They shouted “Zardari the killer of judiciary” and “Zardari the conspirator” for not honouring the agreements on restoration of the deposed judges.
The lawyers also rejected government’s claim that Justice Abdul Hameed Dogar was the constitutional Chief Justice of Pakistan and said that Justice Iftikhar Mohammad Chaudhry was the rightful chief justice.
The legal community also boycotted court proceedings and vowed to continue to hold protests every Thursday.
Civil society and some political parties like the Jamaat-i-Islami and Pakistan Tehrik-e-Insaaf also joined the demonstration.
PML-N Information Secretary Ahsan Iqbal came to express solidarity with the lawyers. He accused the government of indulging in the worst kind of manipulation by picking and choosing selective judges to take a fresh oath and thus create division in the judiciary.
Our Correspondent in Quetta adds: Lawyers boycotted courts in the provincial capital and the district headquarters on Thursday and vowed to continue their struggle till reinstatement of the deposed judges.
Addressing lawyers in the provincial capital, Balochistan Bar Association’s president Amanullah Baloch said the government must fulfil its commitment to restore the judiciary of Nov 2, 2007.
He regretted that political parties in the coalition government had forgotten their promise of reinstating the deposed judges, including Chief Justice Iftikhar Mohammad Chaudhry.
He said the lawyers would launch a movement against the government after Eidul Fitr.