RAWALPINDI, March 6: Supreme Court Bar Association (SCBA) President Aitzaz Ahsan on Thursday said no gun or cannon could be as useful a weapon in the war on terror as the empowered people of Pakistan.

Addressing a lawyers’ convention organised by the High Court Bar Association (HCBA) Rawalpindi here, Mr Ahsan said the people could only be empowered when their rights were protected and that was possible only if an independent judiciary existed in the country.

The convention was attended by a large number of lawyers, civil society activists and representatives of labour unions, minorities, media and newly-elected parliamentarians from the Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N).

The SCBA president asked why the United States and Britain were trying to save Pervez Musharraf at a time when he was opposed by the people of Pakistan as was evident from the results of the February 18 elections.

“We are up in arms against the hegemonic polices and unconstitutional steps of a dictator who is darling of the West but that does not mean we are terrorists,” he maintained. The politician-cum-lawyer reiterated his earlier claim that it was a wrong perception that two-thirds majority in the parliament was needed to reinstate the deposed judges.

According to him, such a move was tantamount to declaring the unconstitutional steps of November 3 as lawful and just.

“How can an army chief sack more than 60 judges and suspend the constitution and why two third majority is needed to reverse such perverse actions,” he asked.

He said the lawyers’ community was not against any package bringing in benefits to the judiciary and improving the selection criteria of the judges, but it should not come at the cost of the independence of the judiciary.

A sovereign parliament can only emerge in presence of an independent judiciary and a desirable parliament cannot be built on the rubble of the judiciary, he added. “The higher judiciary will be independent only after the reinstatement of the sacked judges,” the lead counsel for deposed chief justice Iftikhar Mohammad Chaudhry said.

He said it was good to release an Indian man after 35 years incarceration but at the same time the human rights minister should take notice of detention of former CJ and other judges who along with their families had been under house arrest since last November 3.

Mr Ahsan said lawyers would prosecute Pervez Musharraf, Shaukat Aziz, Mohammedmian Soomro, and federal interior minister and secretary for keeping the judges and their children in the illegal detention for more than four months.

The charged senior lawyer said had the sitting judiciary been independent; the judges would have taken notice of the unlawful detention of their colleagues. No judge can dare follow rule of law and his conscience keeping in view the maltreatment of the CJ and other judges, he added.

Former SCBA president Justice (retired) Tariq Mehmood, speaking on the occasion, said the ongoing movement of the lawyers was bound to succeed because firstly they had offered every sacrifice, secondly they were being led by headstrong people and thirdly the deposed CJ had really work hard and the Providence would favour him.

Other speakers included Hanif Abbasi and Dr Tariq Chaudhry, two MNAs of PML-N; former minority MNA J. Salik, RIUJ President Afzal Butt and HCBA president Sardar Asmatullah. They vowed to celebrate black flag week from March 9 to 16 to press the government for the restoration of the judges.

Former PPP parliamentarian Zamurd Khan was also present among the lawyers after remaining absent from the scene for a long time, as he was busy in electioneering. After losing his seat to Malik Ibrar of PML-N, he has again joined the lawyers’ struggle.

Later, Aitzaz Ahsan along with local leadership of the Pakistan People’s Party and lawyers visited the place where former prime minister Benazir Bhutto was assassinated on December 27 last year after a public rally. He offered Fateha and termed the assassination of PPP chairperson a tragic incident in Pakistani politics.