PESHAWAR, July 20: The lawyers community on Friday urged President Gen Pervez Musharraf to forthwith quit both posts of the president and chief of army staff after the historic Supreme Court judgement.

As a private television channel aired the news of restoration of Chief Justice Iftikhar Mohammad Chaudhry, lawyers at the Peshawar High Court bar room started embracing each other and exchanging greetings. The bar room reverberate with slogans of Go Musharraf go and Long live chief justice.

They took out a procession in the evening to celebrate the court verdict. The jubilant lawyers were dancing to the beat of drums.

The procession started from Haroon Mansion, which mostly houses offices of lawyers, and passed through Khyber, Qissa Khwani and other bazaars of the city.

Earlier, PHC Bar Association president Abdul Lateef Afridi told Dawn that July 20 was a historic day in the country’s judicial history and it would herald in establishing a true democratic dispensation in the country.

He said this was the first setback to the military establishment and future events would result in ouster of army generals from power.

Our struggle was not for Justice Iftikhar Mohammad Chaudhry, but for independence of the judiciary and restoration of democracy, Mr Afridi said. The verdict would leave a deep impact on the political and judicial situation in the country, he added.

PHCBA secretary-general Ishtiaq Ibraheem said: Our struggle was not for the restoration of the chief justice only. The struggle will continue for the supremacy of the Constitution, restoration of true democracy and rule of law in the country.

Barrister Bacha said the judgment had buried the infamous ‘doctrine of necessity’ for ever and now, no military chief would try to assume power through unconstitutional means.

He said it was now the need of the hour that the Supreme Court declared the 17th Constitutional Amendment as unconstitutional and restored the 1973 Constitution in its original shape. He said the court should take action against Gen Musharraf under Article 6 of the Constitution.

He said the Supreme Court judgment would be considered a step towards independence of the judiciary only if the judiciary considered itself independent and judges who had taken oath under the Provisional Constitution Order took a fresh oath under the 1973 Constitution.

The jubilant lawyers distributed sweets among people.

They said the courage shown by the chief justice and the unity of lawyers had resulted in the defeat of the military establishment. It was for the first time that the judiciary had asserted itself and had taken a step towards its independence.