MULTAN/LAHORE: Deposed chief justice Iftikhar Muhammad Chaudhry arrived in Multan on Tuesday evening to join the long march of lawyers as Supreme Court Bar Association (SCBA) President Chaudhry Aitzaz Ahsan declared that the long march would target parliament and not the president house.
The lawyers’ caravans from Sindh and Balochistan which left on Tuesday morning for Multan via Sukkur in the first leg of the long march reached Multan late Tuesday night. Hundreds of lawyers and political activists chanted “Go Musharraf Go!” and waved colourful flags as justice Iftikhar Muhammad Chaudhry drove into Multan after flying from Islamabad via Lahore.
He was accorded a historic welcome on his arrival at Multan airport and was showered with rose petals by the lawyers and the civil society members. While talking to journalists at the welcome ceremony at the airport, PML-N Vice-President Javed Hashmi vowed to support the lawyers’ movement on behalf of Nawaz Sharif and other party leadership would participate in the sit-in before parliament along with lawyers, he added.
To a question, he said Musharraf should be impeached and held accountable for violating the Constitution and added he cannot hold anyone hostage anymore. The deposed chief justice is due to make a speech in Lahore on Wednesday and then lead a caravan of vehicles to Islamabad the following day.
The rallies will be a fresh show of opposition to the embattled Musharraf as he rejects speculation that he will quit - but they will also pile pressure on the new government to give Justice Iftikhar Chaudhry and the other judges their jobs back. Security was tight in Multan.
In Multan, PML-N leader Zulfikar Khosa said his party members would march with the protesters.“We will be part of this struggle until the removal of the dictator and success of the lawyers,” he said.
Our Lahore correspondent adds: Talking to media at the Allama Iqbal Airport, SCBA President Chaudhry Aitzaz Ahsan said the long march would target parliament and not the presidency.
Aitzaz said it was only the lawyer’s struggle that would force Musharraf to think about his resignation. The legal fraternity would celebrate the ouster of Musharraf but it was necessary to build pressure on parliament, which has pledged to restore the deposed judges, he added.
About the possible terrorist attacks in the federal capital, Aitzaz said terrorists were also fighting against Musharraf, so an attack on lawyers was out of question. However, he condemned the way of protest and resentment adopted by terrorists against the president.
Lawyer’s stay in Islamabad and any further strategy about the long march would be evolved by the Long March Implementation Committee, he said while responding to a query.
Meanwhile, spokesman for Justice Iftikhar Athar Minallah condemned the Islamabad administration for barricading roads leading to Constitutional Avenue. He termed it a violation of agreement between the lawyers’ leaders and the administration.
“The government should not create May 12-like turbulence in the capital,” he warned.
Agencies add: Security was beefed up in Islamabad, where the processions are expected to culminate with a rally and sit-in in front of Parliament. Large 40-foot shipping containers blocked the road leading to the legislature. Paramilitary forces also built several new sandbag positions in the area.
On Tuesday morning, the caravans of lawyers, political workers, civil society members and different organisations arrived at Sukkur from Karachi and Quetta on Monday night. Their next stopover after Multan would be Lahore.
Besides the legal community, the participants included activists of Jamaat-e-Islami, PML-N, Tehrik-e-Insaf, Sindh Taraqi Pasand Party and members of the civil society, who had hoisted, on their vehicles, colourful flags of their parties and organisations.
Some political parties had also set up camps along the highway and welcomed the lawyers’ motorcades passing through their towns en route to Sukkur.
On the occasion, Justice (retd) Fakhruddin G Ibrahim urged lawyers, members of civil society and political workers to participate in the march in large numbers. He hoped the struggle would succeed.
Sukkur High Court Bar Association (SHBA) Secretary General Shabir Shar said that lawyers believed in non-violence.
In Islamabad, Convener of Peoples Lawyers Forum Sardar Muhammad Latif Khan Khosa said there would be no boycott of superior courts during the Long March except on Thursdays, as decided by the Pakistan Bar Council in its meeting held in Peshawar.
Responding to a question about the participation of Peoples Lawyers Forum in the Long March, he said, “We believe in the supremacy of the Parliament and democratic institutions. Peoples Lawyers Forum will not participate in the ongoing Long March as unanimously decided by the office bearers of the Forum.”
“Peaceful protest is the right of every person and Peoples Party firmly believes in the freedom of speech,” Latif Khosa said. To a question about the Long March, he said there was no justification for this Long March as both the major parties, PPP and PML-N, had already been in the process for the restoration of deposed judges.
Talking to a private TV channel at Multan Airport, SCBA’s former president Munir A Malik said Long March was a milestone of lawyers’ movement and not an end of it.He said the aim of the Long March was a constant reminder that a society devoid of justice could never progress or evolve as a nation.
