RAWALPINDI, March 10: Lawyers of Rawalpindi Bar Association (RBA) here on Monday accorded a warm welcome to the recently released leader of the legal fraternity, Ali Ahmed Kurd, at Islamabad airport where he landed after more than four months of incarceration in Quetta following the November 3 state of emergency.
The lawyers of RBA started gathering in the waiting area of the airport to received the former vice-president of Pakistan Bar Council and raised slogans as Mr Kurd came out of the airport.
The lawyers then marched towards the house of deposed chief justice Iftikhar Mohammad Chaudhry after being asked to do so by Ali Ahmed Kurd.
Earlier in the day, the presidents of both the High Court Bar Association and Rawalpindi Bar Association hoisted black flags at the bar halls.
The lawyers then held a rally which started from district courts and ended at Rawalpindi Press club near Liaquat Bagh. A large number of lawyers held black flags and chanting anti- Musharraf and pro-deposed judges slogans.
A good number of students from the two nearby high schools near Marrir Chowk also joined the march of the lawyers. They also visited the site near Liaquat Bagh where PPP chairperson Benazir Bhutto was assassinated last December.
Before carrying out the protest the lawyers staged a sit-in in the hunger strike camp at the RBA where speakers appreciated both Pakistan People’s Party and Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz for announcing to restore the judges.
TAXILA: The lawyers’ community in Taxila, Wah and Attock give a fresh imputes to their black flag week protests against deposition and “arrest” of senior judges by holding rallies and seminars on the first working day of the week.
Scores of lawyers gathered at the Tehsil Courts Complex and later peacefully rallied across the city before ending their march at Taxila Chowk.
Representatives of the civil society, traders and workers of different political parties also joined the protesting legal practitioners.
They were waving black flags, wearing black armbands and holding banners inscribed with slogans calling for the reinstatement of pre-November 3 judges. They also chanted slogans against President Pervez Musharraf and in support of deposed chief justice Iftikhar Mohammad Chaudhry.
Addressing the participants, a number of lawyers including Taxila Bar Association president Afzal Janjua said the movement launched one year ago had earned a golden place in the history books, adding that it would soon meet its logical end.
They stressed that the struggle was not for the reinstatement of an individual, but for the survival of national institutions.
The speakers said the judiciary had always validated the law of necessity to strengthen the hands of military dictators, but it was for the first time that the now deposed judges stood up against the dictatorship by respecting the wishes of the people.
ATTOCK: The lawyers hoisted black flags at the bar offices and organised seminars in which they criticised the government for its refusal to release the deposed judges.
The main protest meeting was held at the District Bar Association (DBA) under the chairmanship of vice-president Syed Tahir Bukhari.
The association’s president, Rana Afsar Ali Khan, could not take part in the campaign because of illness.
On the occasion, Supreme Court Bar Association (SCBA) president Aitzaz Ahsan addressed the protesters over the phone and reiterated the community’s resolve to continue with its efforts until achieving all the objectives.
Lawyers, including Sheikh Ahsanuddin, Waqar Azeem and Mohammad Ishfaq, hoped that PPP co-chairman Asif Ali Zardari and PML-N Quaid Nawaz Sharif would fulfil their promise on the reinstatement of the judges within 30 days of the formation of a new government.
They said the parliament would not be able to complete its five-year term if it set aside the judiciary’s restoration.
“Only an independent and strong judiciary can guard the parliament’s interests and serve as a bulwark against conspiracies,” they stressed.
According to them, any judicial set-up aligned with President Pervez Musharraf cannot hand down an independent verdict.
The speakers paid tribute to the deposed chief justice for what they said his firm stance on the rule of law.
They also expressed confidence in the leadership of Chaudhry Aitzaz Ahsan, Ali Ahmad Kurd, Munir A. Malik and Justice (retired) Tariq Mahmood.
After the DBA meeting, traders, politicians, students and civil society representatives joined the lawyers’ anti-government rally taken out from the district bar offices to Fawara Chowk in the Attock city.
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