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WEEKLY
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| Lawyers announce polls boycott Ask political parties to join them; deposed judges of LHC detained at homes |
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Sunday, December 09, 2007
By our correspondent
LAHORE: The All Pakistan Lawyers’ Representatives Convention on Saturday unanimously decided to boycott the upcoming polls, urging the political parties to join them in the movement.
The convention declared the upcoming general elections as eyewash, observing that in the presence of President Pervez Musharraf, the so-called caretaker government and the incomplete Election Commission, the polls could not be fair, free and impartial.
The convention, attended by the bar’s representatives from all over the country, urged the political parties, civil society, students and the media to continue supporting the lawyers’ struggle for the restoration of the 1973 Constitution in its true spirit and the reinstatement of the judiciary to its pre-Nov 03 status.
Eleven resolutions were presented before the house that were unanimously passed. The resolutions included immediate reinstatement of all the deposed judges of the Supreme Court and the High Courts. The house strongly rejected the proclamation of emergency and the PCO and refused to recognize the judges appointed under the PCO.
The house declared the judges who did not take oath under the PCO as the heroes of the whole nation and condemned their eviction from their official residences. It demanded immediate withdrawal of notices served to the judges for eviction and the deployment of police outside their houses. The lawyers vowed to protect the judges themselves.
The convention also demanded immediate release of all the detained lawyers, including SCBA President Aitzaz Ahsan, former president Munir A Malik, Ali Ahmad Kurd, Justice (retd) Tariq Mahmood, Baz Muhammad Kakar, Hadi Shakeel Ahmad, members of the civil society and political activists. They further demanded withdrawal of cases lodged against them.
Adopting another resolution, they said they would continue their struggle despite all unconstitutional steps and state terrorism, and would not hesitate from sacrificing for the said cause. The participants of the convention paid rich tributes to lawyers and members of the civil society who had faced the state atrocities.
Through another resolution, they strongly condemned the Pemra Ordinance and termed the curbs on the media, especially the Geo TV, based on bad intentions, demanding that the curbs be lifted immediately.
The house said the amendments in the aforesaid acts were the brainchild of Attorney General Malik Qayyum and Sharifuddin Pirzada, who are undesirable persons.
The house further termed the amendments in the Army Act and the Legal Practitioners and Bar Council Act as unlawful. It further said Pervez Musharraf was constitutionally and legally not the president of the country, and the lawyers would not recognize him as president.
It rejected the caretaker set-up describing it as the B team of the dictatorial regime. They strongly condemned manhandling and forced exile of Justice (retd) Wajihuddin from the Punjab and the police highhandedness against the lawyers.
The house condemned the foreign intervention in the internal matters of Pakistan, particularly the statements of the British high commissioner. The convention pledged that they would continue the struggle for the restoration of Constitution, the rule of law and independence of the judiciary irrespective of their political affiliations.
The lawyers’ representatives who spoke on the occasion included Punjab Bar Council Vice Chairman Tariq Javed Warraich, Executive Committee Chairman Syed Arbab Ahmad, Pakistan Bar Council Vice Chairman Mirza Aziz Akbar, PBC member Hamid Khan, Lahore Bar Association president Syed Muhammad Shah, LHCBA President Ahsan Bhoon, Justice (retd) Nasira Javed Iqbal, Justice (retd) Khalil-ur-Rehman Khan, Azad Kashmir Bar Association president, Balochistan Bar Council secretary and Sindh Bar Council members and Hyderabad Bar Association.
Meanwhile, the deposed judges of the Lahore High Court were again detained at their residence, apparently to stop them from participating in the lawyers’ convention. The police deployment outside the judges’ residence was enhanced early in the morning after they were informed that they (judges) could not go outside.
When contacted, Justice Khawaja Muhammad Sharif, Justice Asif Saeed Khan Khosa, Justice Sheikh Azmat Saeed, Justice Sair Ali, Justice Saqib Nisar and Justice Ijaz Ahmed Chaudhry confirmed their house arrest.
Justice Sharif and Justice Ijaz Chaudhry said the police had been deployed outside their houses because the government wanted to stop the judges from attending the convention. “I was taking a bath at around 8:00 am when my wife informed me that police vehicles had arrived outside our house,” Justice Khawaja told The News by phone from his DHA residence.
Defence police station SHO Mustansar Khan told Justice Sharif that he had come to stop him from visiting Dr Basit, who had invited him to tea. He added that he spoke with Justice Iqbal Hameed-ur-Rehman, who had also been detained. “A police vehicle had been parked outside the main gate of my house,” Justice Sharif quoted Justice Rehman as saying.
Speaking on phone from his GOR-1 residence, Justice Ijaz said the Race Course Police Station SHO had come to his house in the morning and told him the deployment was only for his security.
“I can confirm that all the judges had been placed under house arrest once again,” said Sharif, adding in the evening, the police deployment was removed from outside his house as well as from the residences of other judges, the time when the lawyers’ convention had concluded.
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ISSN 1563-9479 
