ISLAMABAD, Aug 28: Lawyers staged two-hour sit-ins across the country on Thursday, turning their guns on PPP Co-chairperson Asif Ali Zardari for not honouring written agreements on the restoration of deposed judges.

“Go Zardari Go” replaced the “Go Musharraf Go” slogan and a new one was coined to deride Mr Zardari: “Aik NRO Kay Sa’ey Talay Sab Chor Aik Hain,” (All thieves are united under the umbrella of NRO).

The most significant event of the sit-in in Islamabad, where a handful of lawyers blocked the Zero Point, was the tearing up and disfiguring of a beaming visage of Asif Zardari.

However, the lawyers were careful not to mutilate another banner festooned with the picture of slain PPP chairperson Benazir Bhutto.

The sit-in was the first major event of lawyers since the June 13 long march when hundreds of thousands of them had poured into Islamabad.

The long march was held on a joint call of the Pakistan Bar Council and the Supreme

Court Bar Association, but the “dharna” was announced by a breakaway group National Coordination Council, led by Aitzaz Ahsan.

The sit-ins were staged from 12 noon to 2 pm by all bar associations on inter-city highways and in the financial hub of big cities.

In Islamabad, the traffic police had made elaborate arrangements to maintain the flow of traffic by diverting vehicles to lanes and by-lanes, but still long columns of vehicles were seen moving at a snail’s pace.

Led by Islamabad Bar Association President Haroon Rashid, a few lawyers, some representatives of civil society and members of the Tehrik-i-Insaf braved a hot and humid day, marching on the Zero Point. They chanted anti-Zardari and pro-Iftikhar Mohammad Chaudhry slogans.

Conspicuous by their absence were Pakistan Muslim League-N activists and leaders who were in the forefront of all such demonstrations in the past.

The demonstrators accused Mr Zardari of dilly-delaying over the reinstatement of judges before the presidential election.

They reminded the PPP leadership of the commitment made by Benazir Bhutto to restore the deposed chief justice and hoist the national flag at his official residence.

In Rawalpindi, protesters, led by High Court Bar Association President Sardar Asmatullah Khan and District Bar Association President Sardar Tariq Masood, turned up at the Katcheri Chowk, Liaquat Bagh, Moti Mahal intersection, Airport Chowk, and Peshawar Road.

In Lahore, SCBA President Aitzaz Ahsan said if the government did not restore the judges to their pre-emergency position, the lawyers would launch yet another movement.

Lawyers also took out rallies and threw traffic on main arteries of cities and towns out of gear.In a speech at the Lahore High Court Bar Association, Mr Aitzaz said the lawyers carried an important responsibility to save the country as it was passing through the “most critical phase” of its history.

In Karachi, members of political parties and civil society staged a sit-in at M.A. Jinnah Road.

A joint general body meeting of the Sindh High Court bar and Karachi bar associations criticised the eight judges of the Sindh High Court who had taken fresh oath and said it was a conspiracy to divide the legal fraternity.

In Khanewal, lawyers blocked the main GT Road. In Toba Tek Singh, an express train was also halted.

In Hyderabad and other towns across the interior of Sindh, lawyers boycotted courts and staged a sit-in.

Activists of civil society and political parties including Awami Tehrik, PML-N, Sindh Taraqqi Pasand Party, Sindh United Party, Sunni Tehrik and Shia Ulema Council also joined the protest.

In Quetta, lawyers staged a sit-in and boycotted court proceedings.

Activists and leaders of Pakhtunkhwa Milli Awami Party, National Party, Balochistan National Party (Mengal), Jamiat Ulema Islam (Ideological), Tehrik-i-Insaf, Jamaat-i-Islami and members of civil society also joined the sit-in at Manan Chowk.