PESHAWAR, Dec 3: The chairman of the Pakistan Bar Council’s executive committee, Qazi Mohammad Anwer, claimed on Monday that the government had offered to reinstate all deposed judges except Justice Iftikhar Mohammad Chaudhry.
Addressing a meeting of the NWFP Lawyers Action Committee at the Peshawar High Court, Mr Anwer said the government had offered to retire Chief Justice Iftikhar Chaudhry with all privileges and benefits. However, he said the legal community would not budge from its stance of demanding reinstatement of all the deposed judges.
Mr Anwer condemned the attitude of Maulana Fazlur Rehman and said he had been toeing the establishment’s line. He added that the Maulana was neither aware about the Provisional Constitution Order (PCO) nor about the Constitution and had only been serving his own vested interests.
The meeting reiterated the lawyers’ stance of not appearing before the judges who had taken the oath under the PCO and to continue their movement till the restoration of all the deposed judges of superior courts.
Through a unanimously adopted resolution the committee condemned the statements of Jamiat Ulema-i-Islam (F) chief, Maulana Fazlur Rehman, against the deposed judges and warned that if he continued to give such statements then the legal community would observe a complete boycott of his party and would never represent them in any case.
Amid complete boycott of the high court, the consultative meeting was held at the Peshawar High Court which was largely attended by members of the PHC Bar Association and Peshawar District Bar Association.
The meeting demanded immediate release of their leaders, including Barrister Aitzaz Ahsan, Justice (retd) Tariq Mehmod, Ali Ahmad Kurd and Baz Mohammad Kakar. It was also decided that lawyers would participate in the national lawyers’ convention in Lahore on Dec 5 in large numbers.
The meeting was addressed by PHCBA president Abdul Lateef Afridi, Qazi Mohammad Anwer, Abdul Sattar Khan and Nek Nawaz Khan, among others.
On this occasion, various office-bearers of the Jamiat Lawyers Forum (JLF), affiliated with the JUI, announced quitting their association as a protest against the criticism of Maulana Fazlur Rehman against Chief Justice Iftikhar Mohammad Chaudhry and other judges.
The president of JLF, Peshawar, Altaf Ahmad, announced that he and his other friends were no longer affiliated with the JUI. He said that first Maulana Fazlur Rehman criticised Justice Iftikhar Chaudhry in the All Parties Conference in London and then he continued to criticise the independent judges.
The senior vice president, Mohammad Sabir Khan, general secretary Sheraz Hussain and Joint Secretary Sajid Khan also endorsed his announcement. They said that they would approach their friends in other areas and convince them to quit the forum.
The speakers of the meeting said that the doffing of the uniform by President Musharraf was the first step towards the ultimate success of lawyers’ movement. They said that they would not compromise on the issue of restoration of the deposed judges.
They said that unless independent judges were restored there was no status of the forthcoming elections. In the presence of PCO judges there was no possibility of holding free and fair elections.
