Speaking at a press conference here on Monday, Rana Ijaz Ahmad said the government did not impose constitutional amendments on the people through the Provisional Constitutional Order.
Expressing concern at the attitude of representatives of the Pakistan Bar Council, the Supreme Court Bar Association, the Punjab Bar Council, the Lahore High Court Bar Association and the Lahore Bar Association, he said they should adopt reasonable attitude.
He said the lawyers should review the proposed constitutional amendments package and then take any step as the present stance of the lawyers’ representatives was not logical.
The minister said President Musharraf and his team were working for the restoration of democracy and had adopted a democratic way of debate on the package to elicit people’s views in this regard.
Rana Ijaz said the government presented the constitutional package for debate but the lawyers’ representatives without reviewing it started protesting against it. He said the lawyers should point out defects in the proposed package and the government would review their objections and suggestions.
He said the government was not interested to take credit for rejection of the strike call, adding the government allowed them to protest and take out processions. However, he said we appreciated the lawyers who appeared before the courts to plead the cases of poor litigants.
Commenting on a threat of cancellation of membership of the lawyers who appeared before the courts, he said law did not allow the same.
He said the lawyers’ representatives were working on the agenda of some political parties and playing in the hands of rejected politicians. He requested the lawyers to save the Bar from politics of opposition parties.
He said lawyers of Faisalabad, Bahawalpur and other districts of Punjab rejected the strike call and appeared before the courts, but in Lahore and Rawalpindi a partial strike was observed. However, he said in the Lahore High Court 100 per cent cases were taken up and both the lawyers and litigants appeared before the courts.
The minister said non-appearance of the lawyers before the courts was itself a misconduct under the Legal Practitioners and Bar Councils Act.
He said the government had evolved a comprehensive strategy to provide all possible facilities to Bar associations across the country, and for this purpose Rs2 billion had been allocated for the welfare of the Bar and the bench.
He said the proposed constitutional package was not the last word; it could be changed on suggestions of people.—APP