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Lawyers give 72 hours for judges’ reinstatement

* To celebrate ‘Day of Deliverance’ today
* Aitzaz says lawyers will remove black flags g Will stage sit-ins if judges are not reinstated

Staff Report

LAHORE/ISLAMABAD: Lawyers on Monday gave the coalition government a 72-hour deadline to reinstate all the judges in line with the Islamabad Declaration signed on August 6.

“The government should reinstate the judges within three days,” Supreme Court Bar Association (SCBA) President Aitzaz Ahsan said while talking to reporters.

Lawyers would stage countrywide sit-ins if the judges are not restored, he said.

Aitzaz said lawyers should remove black flags from bar rooms and celebrate a “Yaum-e-Nijat” (Day of Deliverance) today (Tuesday).

Pakistan Bar Council’s (PBC) Hamid Khan said that Musharraf’s resignation was the first step towards their goal. He said the “Go Musharraf, go” campaign had been successful and the government should now restore all the judges “as soon as possible and not later than three days” in line with the promise it had made.

Former PBC vice-chairmen Ali Ahmad Kurd and Rasheed A Rizvi said Musharraf had rejected the allegations made against him and should therefore stay in the country to face the legal course to prove himself innocent. They said an example should be set to eliminate the practice of “adventurism in politics” and Musharraf should not be given a safe exit. They hoped that the leaders of coalition partners would fulfil their commitments and the sacked judges would be restored without delay.

Former SCBA presidents Justice (r) Tariq Mehmood, Munir A Malik and Akram Sheikh said all political parties, lawyers, and the civil society deserved credit for putting pressure on Musharraf and paving the way for his resignation. They said the restoration of the pre-November 2, 2007 judiciary was a pre-requisite to strengthening democratic institutions.

Hafiz Abdur Rehman Ansari, another PBC member, said Musharraf did not deserve a safe exit and should be tried and sentenced for abrogating the constitution. “We have to set the example, so that no dictator would dare play with the fate of the country in future,” he said. He demanded that the ruling alliance fulfill the promise it had made to the Pakistani nation and the lawyers community, and should restore chief justice Iftikhar Muhammad Chaudhry and other sacked judges who did not take oath under the November 3, 2007 Provisional Constitution Order promulgated by General (r) Pervez Musharraf.

SCBA Secretary Amin Javed said Musharraf’s resignation was “the fruit of the lawyers’ movement”. He said it was a day of joy for the whole nation and the legal fraternity. “The democratic forces should now fulfill their promises,” he said.

Lahore High Court Bar Association President Anwar Kamal said Pakistan “has got rid of a dictator” and the coalition government should now restore the sacked judges without delay. He also asked the government to improve living conditions of the masses, who were suffering because of inflation.

Lahore High Court Bar Association Secretary Rana Asadullah said the coalition government should restore all judges without delay, honouring their word and acknowledging the lawyers’ movement “which rid the country of a dictator who ruined all institutions”.

SCBA spokesman Muhammad Azhar Siddique said the new president should take oath from Iftikhar Chaudhry because he was now the constitutional chief justice of Pakistan.

Abdul Hafeez Pirzada, SM Zafar, Khalid Ranjha and Mujeeb Pirzada said Musharraf resigned in the best interest of the nation and to save the country from political turmoil.

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