QUETTA, March 9 Lawyers across the country launched a “black flag week” to press their demand for reinstatement of deposed chief justice Iftikhar Mohammad Chaudhry and other judges. They hoisted black flags over bar offices and organised seminars criticising the government for its refusal to release the judges.

Addressing members of the Balochistan Bar Association and a seminar in Quetta, former judge of the Supreme Court Justice Wajihuddin Ahmed said the week would strengthen the hands of the newly-elected members of the National Assembly.

He said lawyers did not want a confrontation with parliament.

Justice Wajih hoisted a black flag on the building of the Quetta sessions court to mark the beginning of the week in Balochistan.

He said the lawyers` movement would be suspended for a few days to give time to parliament to resolve the issue but the protest would resume if it failed to reinstate the judges.

He said an independent judiciary and President Pervez Musharraf could not co-exist. He said Gen (retd) Musharraf should step down or face impeachment by parliament.

He said that the rule of law could not be established without an independent judiciary.

Criticising the government for not convening national and provincial assemblies` sessions, he said the delay might lead to a crisis.

He said the nation had been deprived of its basic rights for 60 years because there was no independent judiciary.

Pakhtunkhwa Milli Awami Party chairman Mehmood Khan Achakzai said the country was still under martial law and called for a joint struggle by all political forces to get rid of dictatorship.

Speaking at the seminar, he said there was a need to eliminate the role of army and intelligence agencies in politics.

He claimed that Pakistan was the only country in the world where the establishment `invented` leaders and institutionalised corruption. He alleged that some institutions of the country were actively trying to sideline popular leaders and induct unpopular people into governments.

Ali Ahmed Kurd said that lawyers would continue their struggle till judiciary was restored to its pre-Nov 3 status.

In Islamabad, police resorted to heavy teargas shelling to stop lawyers and civil society activists from proceeding to the residence of Justice Iftikhar during a demonstration staged to mark the first anniversary of the unfolding of the judicial crisis.