KARACHI, Aug 28: Members of the city’s legal fraternity, political parties and civil society on Thursday staged a sit-in for about two hours on the arterial M.A. Jinnah Road in response to a call given by the National Coordination Council aimed at pressing the Pakistan People’s Party-led coalition government to honour its commitments with regard to the pre-Nov 3 judiciary.

The lawyers also condemned the government’s move for a fresh oath to the deposed judges. Terming the November 3, 2007 steps illegal and unconstitutional, they said that an executive order would be enough for the reinstatement of the judges sacked by former president Pervez Musharraf.

The newly-formed National Coordination Council headed by the president of the Supreme Court Bar Association (SCBA), Aitzaz Ahsan, had called countrywide sit-ins to intensify the lawyers’ ongoing movement and to press the government to reinstate all the deposed judges including the deposed chief justice of Pakistan, Justice Iftikhar Mohammad Chaudhry. The NCC has also accused the Pakistan Bar Council of deviating from the lawyers’ struggle.

The lawyers took out a procession from the offices of the Karachi Bar Association (KBA) after attending a joint general body meeting of the Sindh high court bar and the Karachi bar associations held at the Shuhada-i-Punjab Hall of the City Courts and staged a two-hour sit-in on M A Jinnah Road suspending the vehicular traffic and later dispersed peacefully. Massive traffic jams were witnessed on different thoroughfares adjacent to M. A. Jinnah Road causing severe hardship to the commuters.

Participants of the protest rally, surrounded by heavy police contingents and other law-enforcing agencies were seen carrying placards, banners and flags chanting anti-Zardari and anti-Musharraf slogans.

The provincial leaders and workers of the Jamaat-i-Islami, Pakistan Tehrik-i-Insaf, Pakhtoonkhawa Milli Awami Party, Sunni Tehrik, Jamiat-i-Ulema-i-Pakistan, Pakistan Muslim League-N and other component parties of the APDM, non-governmental organisations including Pasban, Human Rights Commission of Pakistan, Pakistan Medical Association and activists of various labour unions also participated in the demonstration. Shopkeepers adjacent to the demonstration avenue had also closed their businesses during the two-hour protest.

Addressing the protesters, the leader of Jamaat-i-Islami, Mohammad Hussain Mehnati, assured the lawyers of his party’s unconditional support for the ongoing struggle till the reinstatement of all the deposed judges.

He termed the November 3, 2007 steps of Pervez Musharraf unconstitutional and illegal and said instead of reappointment the government must restore all the deposed judges through an executive order. He also urged the government to arrest the culprits involved in May 12 and April 9 incidents and to punish them accordingly.

Advocate Naheed Afzal was of the view that Musharraf’s policies were being followed by the present government even after his departure, adding that such policies had put the national integration at stake. He slammed the PPP co-chairman, Asif Ali Zardari, for not restoring the pre-PCO judiciary despite many assurances and declarations.

The president of the Sindh High Court Bar Association, Rasheed A. Razvi, said that the deposed chief justice, Justice Iftikhar Mohammad Chaudhry, was a symbol of an independent judiciary and the rule of law, adding that there would be no concept of an independent judiciary without Justice Iftikhar. Various other political leaders also spoke in favour of the lawyers’ movement.

Meanwhile, the Malir Bar Association after a general body meeting held at the MBA offices, also staged a one-hour sit-in on National Highway to protest against the government for not restoring the Nov-2 judiciary.

The president of the Malir bar, Amanullah Yousufzai, told Dawn that the lawyers in accordance with the call of the National Coordination Council staged a sit-in at National Highway. He said that lawyers also condemned the fresh oath-taking of eight deposed judges of the Sindh High Court. Later, a group of Malir bar’s lawyers joined the Karachi and Sindh court bars’ lawyers at M. A. Jinnah Road.

The KBA chief, Mahmoodul Hasan, also announced that the leader of the Jamaat-i-Islami, Qazi Hussain Ahmed, would address a general body meeting of the Karachi Bar Association on Saturday.