KARACHI: Lawyers stay away from courts, hold protest rally
A strike call was given by the Pakistan Bar Council to protest against the emergency rule, the ousting of judges of the Supreme and high courts, the promulgation of the Provisional Constitution Order (PCO), amendments in the Legal Practitioners and Bar Council Act, 1973 and the detention of the top leadership of the PBC.
About 339 undertrial prisoners were brought to the City Courts from different prisons of the city, but their cases could not be heard since the lawyers stayed away from court proceedings. However, the judges remained in their chambers.
The canteens on the premises remained open. The stamp paper and stationery shops did open in the morning but were later shuttered as there was no business due to the strike.
Earlier, the Karachi Bar Association (KBA) had planned to take out a procession from the City Courts to the Sindh High Court and then march towards the Karachi Press Club to protest against the ousting of judges, promulgation of the PCO, detention of lawyers and restrictions on the judiciary and the media. But a general body meeting of the KBA deiced to take out a procession within the City Courts premises to avoid any untoward incident on the eve of KBA election, scheduled to be held on Saturday.
KBA General Secretary Naeem Qureshi said: “We don’t want any unpleasant incident just before the KBA elections, and the general body has unanimously decided to take out the procession on the Court Courts premises instead of marching to the Karachi Press Club.”
Later, lawyers took out a rally from the KBA office, marched on Raja Riaz Shaheed Road, (formerly Lewis Road) and then entered back into the City Courts through Gate 2. They shouted anti-Musharraf and anti-government slogans during the rally.
Heavy contingents of police and other law enforcement agencies were deputed around the City Courts to tackle the situation, but they remained calm since the lawyers decided against marching towards the press club.
KBA President Iftikhar Javed Qazi urged the legal fraternity of the City Courts to elect those people in the KBA upcoming election who had give sacrifices in the ongoing struggle and would be capable of making this movement successful.He was speaking at a general body meeting of the KBA on Thursday held in the Shuhada-i-Punjab Hall of the City Courts.
He vowed to continue the struggle till the restoration of the constitution, reinstatement of the deposed judges and the independence of the judiciary.
Naeem Qureshi, Yaseen Azad, Mahmood-ul-Hasan, Mohammad Aqil, Mushtaq Jahangiri and Mohammad Ali Abbassi also spoke.
They urged the government to immediately withdraw the PCO, reinstate all the judges, release all the detained lawyers, lift restrictions from the media and to withdraw the amendments made in the Legal Practitioners and Bar Council Act, 1973.
They also welcomed the decision of Supreme Court Bar Association president Aitzaz Ahsan not to take part in the Jan 8 elections and urged all the political parties to boycott the election.
It was also announced that the daily one-hour boycott of court proceedings from 11am to 12noon would continue and a meeting of the Pakistan Bar Council, to be held on Dec 17 in Islamabad, would decide a future strategy for the ongoing struggle. The KBA said that it would respect and implement every decision of the PBC.